


From Ashes

by Flamesong, HopeStoryteller



Series: Under a Broken Moon [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, During Canon, F/F, Multiplicity/Plurality, Past STR-crossed, Post-Volume 5 (RWBY), Resurrection, Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 00:47:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28876692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flamesong/pseuds/Flamesong, https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeStoryteller/pseuds/HopeStoryteller
Summary: Raven Branwen has not had a good few weeks. Salem’s people finding her was bad enough. Then the failed attack on Haven where she didn’t get the Relic, and worse, lost her beloved Vernal…Once again, the action necessary for her survival is running away. And with the list of her friends and allies growing ever shorter, the most viable place to lay low is with the ex-husband she hasn’t spoken to in years. But reconciling with Taiyang is the least of her problems. There’s still a tribe that depends on her leadership, and if Cinder somehow survived the beating Raven gave her, it’s looking like her streak of bad luck just isn’t going to end.Unless, of course, dealing with one issue can help her solve the others too.
Relationships: Raven Branwen/Vernal
Series: Under a Broken Moon [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1675519
Comments: 44
Kudos: 22





	1. Feathers Fall

Tai’s watering his sunflowers, a small black and white dog panting at his heel. The dog looks happy. Tai does not. He’s gripping the watering can far tighter than he needs to, his shoulders are sagging, and the dog keeps nudging his leg. Tai never did like being alone, and yet here he is. Alone with a clueless pup.

Admittedly, dogs can be much better companions than people. In a better time, Raven would shift somewhere discreet and pet his dog, maybe ask its name. In a better time, and with different people, because Tai would be more likely to punch her than let her pet his dog, and frankly she’d deserve it.

The dog is cute, she’ll give him that. Tai doesn’t look too bad himself, just… tired. Raven can certainly relate on that part. 

She rustles her feathers quietly, stretches. She might have stayed longer, except the dog chooses then to look up and bark. 

“Zwei, no,” Tai mutters. “Do not go after another squirrel. It will climb a tree, and you will not be able to climb a tree after it, and then you will be sad.”

The dog—Zwei—barks again. Tai sighs, turns around, and—freezes. He stares. His mouth falls open.

For a few, long moments, Raven just stares back, frozen as well. She—why did she come here? Okay, she knows why, this was the closest viable portal to the tribe. Her tribe. She has a perfectly valid reason for coming here. Just not for staying as long as she has. She’s already stayed longer than she should. She’s not welcome, she made damn sure of that years ago.

“Qrow?” Tai asks slowly, evenly. There’s hope in his words. “Did the girls make it to Mistral?”

There’s hope in his words, and it’s that hope—and that Tai’s first thought was of her pathetic, tribe-betraying brother—that gives Raven the strength she needs to push off the branch and take wing. 

She squawks derisively, just once, as she circles around over Tai’s house. 

“Wait… Raven?” 

So he remembers she exists after all. With a tone more confused than anything, but not without a glimmer of that same hope, and that gives her pause, if only for a moment. 

She ruffles her wing and drops a single black feather, and speeds away to the east. 

* * *

Darkness, all around. 

Dark, ice-cold  _ water. _

She can’t breathe. 

Cinder’s one eye snaps open, rimmed with fire that even the sea around her cannot quench, and she rockets upward. At least, probably upward. It’s hard to tell. 

But water breaks around her and her burning lungs fill again, and Cinder drags herself out onto dry land. 

It’s still dark, and her eye alone isn’t providing much illumination. After a moment to catch her breath, she grunts in frustration and slams her Grimm fist on the rocky floor. 

The ground shakes, and a section of the wall collapses inward. Beyond there is sunlight, streaming into this small cave, beckoning her forward. 

And so Cinder crawls, inch by agonizing inch, out of the cave beneath Haven Academy and into the grass beyond. She’s still freezing, but if she stops to rest she might never get started again. And she’ll be damned if some cold water is going to do her in, when even the Spring Maiden couldn’t quite finish the job. 

Footsteps approach on the path ahead of her, but she can’t quite muster the strength to look up. She can only crawl forwards, another inch, another foot…

“Gods… What happened to–” The unknown woman’s voice cuts off suddenly, likely at the sight of Cinder’s arm. 

She’s a monster. She knows that. Everyone thinks it. But she’ll be damned if she lets one  _ more _ person look down on her, see her vulnerable,  _ pity _ her… And besides, she can’t allow anyone to report her location to the authorities. 

Cinder focuses all her energy to crane her neck upward and look at this woman in the yellow dress, whoever she is. It doesn’t matter. Her body may be weak, her aura may be nearly nothing, but her magic remains strong. 

She aims for the face. She needs those clothes intact. Pale yellow is  _ not _ her color, but anything dry is better than what she’s in now. In seconds, it’s over. 

_ What the – Where am I? What’s going on? Is that… _

Cinder rolls her eyes as she slowly struggles out of her wet clothing and into the yellow dress. “Gods damn it, I don’t need some random civilian in here,” she mutters. Must have been on reflex, and now her pitiful aura is another few percentage points lower. 

_ Is that me? Am I… What happened? Am I dead? _

“Yes, you’re fucking dead, that’s what  _ happens _ to people who are in my way.” Why is she even wasting her time with this woman? Another huntress she could use, but this one doesn’t look like a fighter. But she must have lived in the area, so… “Ugh, fine. What’s your name?”

_ Tessa. Who are you? What did you do to me? _

“Name’s Cinder. You’re one of the many annoying voices in my head now, because apparently I just do that  _ automatically _ when I kill someone now. It’s my sembl–” Cinder grimaces and picks up her slow crawling pace out of spite. “Shut  _ up, _ Pyrrha, I am  _ done _ listening to you! Now, Tessa, I don’t suppose you’d happen to have your own semblance unlocked? Anything useful?”

She stops her agonizing progress as the other voice in her head speaks again.  _ “No, _ damn you! If you weren’t such a good fighter I’d have killed you again months ago! You’re lucky I didn’t bring you out to fight your boyfriend at Haven.”

_ My semblance enhances the aura regeneration speed of others. I’m a paramedic. _

“You  _ were.” _ Cinder snorts. That could be useful, actually. Maybe this civilian who happened onto her path is a good catch after all. “You live around here, Tessa?”

_ Just up that hill. _

Up that hill… which she’s in no state to climb, right now. Just her luck. Unless, if her aura has come back enough since her fight, since her pulling this latest soul into reserve… 

Cinder stops her crawling and flops over on her back. The sky above is clear and blue, trees around her looking impossibly tall from this low vantage. She raises one forearm and points her palm outward, and a flash of yellow light emanates in a cone from her hand. 

Motes of the same pale yellow condense out of the air and form the standing figure of a woman – Tessa, just as she looked in life, but constructed entirely out of yellow aura. The moment her form is complete and the surrounding cone of light fades away, Cinder’s own aura shatters into a million pieces. 

“Tessa…” Cinder’s eye flicks over to look at her, but she can’t bring herself to move her body. “Use your semblance on me. And carry me up the hill to your old house. I need somewhere to recover for a while.”

Tessa finishes staring down at her new spectral body and kneels at Cinder’s side. She looks into Cinder’s eye and gives a small smile. “You could have just asked before…”

One arm goes under Cinder’s shoulders and the other under her knees, and then she’s finally off this hard dirt road. Tessa’s hands flare brighter yellow and that color fades into the orange of Cinder’s own aura around the points of contact, and suddenly Cinder can  _ feel _ her aura strength returning. 

At this rate, it will be nearly full again before they even reach Tessa’s home. This random civilian who got in her way might turn out to be the most useful summon she’s ever had. 

“So, Pyrrha…” she mumbles softly to the air. “What was it you said about destiny?”

* * *

Vernal is dead. 

And the Fall Maiden works for Salem, and her own daughter holds one of the Relics, and she’s halfway across the world because Tai was the only option for an escape portal… Qrow would have been closer to home, but she’s  _ not _ portaling to him…

But all of that is secondary. What’s important, what really  _ hurts, _ is that Vernal — her precious, faithful Vernal — is dead. 

And  _ Cinder _ killed her. 

Now, she has to fly all the way back home to the tribe, alone. Easier said than done, over that distance. There’s no way Cinder survived their fight but Raven almost wishes she had, just so she could get the chance to make her  _ pay _ for what she did. 

Yesterday to cross Vale and climb the mountains. Today to descend again and rest in a small town on Sanus’s east coast. Tomorrow she’ll cross the ocean, thankfully at one of its narrowest points. And then another day to fly over Anima and find her tribe — her family — the only people in this world who care about her, the ones who raised her and who now look to her for leadership. 

The tribe will survive a few days without their leader. She did do her best to warn them all about Cinder and Watts, to say there might be complications, in the rare few moments she had away from their watchful eyes. The scientist wasn’t there at Haven – there’s hardly any technology there for him to work with – and after what happened to Cinder she shouldn’t be hearing from that particular nuisance ever again. 

She’s safe from Salem, for now. Even without the Relic in hand. With the lamp out of its vault, neither side of that pointless, unwinnable war will need the Spring Maiden’s power again. Raven, and her family, are free. 

But she knows better than to think that freedom will last. Both the immortals still want Maidens as fighters, so it’s only a matter of time before one or the other comes to try to recruit her – and after that fails, they’ll try to kill her and start fresh. It doesn’t much matter if it’s Oz or Salem who finds her first. 

Begrudgingly, Raven admits that Yang was probably right. She already knew it, deep down, that holding the Relic of Knowledge would only intensify her tribe’s problems by bringing the war down on all their heads. But the allure of power was strong, and it would have been very helpful to get some truths out of the lamp before she had to pack up and flee again. 

_ You may be powerful, but that doesn’t make you strong. _ Yang certainly has a way with words, doesn’t she? At least when it comes to turning her back on her family. If she thinks some abstract moral  _ strength _ is going to beat an immortal at a game she’s been playing for millennia, if she thinks it will somehow lead her and her  _ teammates _ to anything but a pathetic early demise, then she can take what’s coming to her and Raven will happily stay far away. 

Power, like she has, is the only strength that truly matters. That’s the kind of strength that keeps her  _ alive, _ where so many others around her have failed. Accumulating power of her own, and avoiding those who have accumulated more. And occasionally, when necessary, putting an upstart like Cinder back in her place. 

Unfortunately, no amount of sheer power can negate the exhaustion of beating her wings ceaselessly from dawn to dusk, or at least, that’s not a form of magic she’s yet discovered. If it ever were to come to her like the unlocking of a semblance, now would be the ideal moment, now when she’s got such a long journey ahead of her. 

Remnant has never been a big place to her, not when she can cross the planet in seconds to appear at a loved one’s side. But the numbers of those loved ones have been dwindling, through death or mere estrangement, and now… 

Now she’s down one more. Vernal is dead. 

It’s a good thing her bird form is incapable of shedding tears. That would be rather unbecoming for Raven Branwen, Spring Maiden, leader of the Branwen tribe, and survivor of everything this cruel world ever has and ever will throw at her.


	2. Spring Frost

A week. A  _ week? _ She is Cinder Fall, and how dare this insufferable woman tell her to wait a  _ week _ for her information. The leader of the Spiders should already know something like this, they should have been watching everyone who came out of Haven and following them wherever they went next. 

At least she’s not dead, despite  _ someone’s _ best efforts, and she will not be dead anytime soon. She could wipe that smile off Lil Miss Malachite’s face in an instant. She could wipe her quaint little tavern off the face of Remnant. She could wipe  _ Mistral _ off the face of Remnant, if she wanted. 

But she can’t, because it’ll be a week before Malachite has her goddamn information, and by then the girl will be long gone. If she’s not already long gone—no matter who ended up with the Relic, if it’s not at Haven then the silver-eyed girl won’t stick around there either. 

Does Malachite just want to humiliate her? Just like that hypocrite Raven? She thinks Cinder turned herself into a monster for power? Look who’s talking! The person she wants to wipe off the face of Remnant almost as much as Ruby Rose, and she can’t. Her power should belong to Cinder! Instead, Raven Branwen is  _ still _ the Spring Maiden, and she believes she’s won. She believes it’s over.

It is not over. It won’t be over until Raven is dead, and the power of Spring is rightfully Cinder’s, right alongside Fall. And the other two soon to follow. 

Raven will pay. She will suffer before she dies, and Cinder knows just how to do it. In terms of magic, they are equal. Raven may even have the advantage, in years of practice. 

But in terms of semblances—well. The only reason Cinder didn’t use hers earlier was because calling up the last Ozpin didn’t work. Now, she knows why—and it certainly would have been nice to know ahead of time that Ozpin was going to reincarnate into a mere child. That his soul had a prior commitment elsewhere and would not obey the call of Cinder’s semblance. She  _ had _ thought he seemed awfully quiet ever since his death at Beacon. 

Salem’s time will come too, for that omission and every other slight, but not yet. She’ll need more power before taking that one on. 

Raven’s time, however, is almost up. 

Cinder considers using her semblance right here, in the alley outside the Spiders’ tavern. But they surely have someone watching, and she does have an illusion to keep up. Conjuring objects of black glass, yes, that’s  _ definitely _ her semblance, nothing else. That one particular application of Maiden magic, so convenient for hiding the truth. 

Better to leave the area, and try to lose the inevitable shadow that Malachite has sent after her. The Haven headmaster’s office should be nice and empty now, where she won’t be disturbed. 

It’s a simple matter to get there, and step over the body of old Lionheart on the floor. Oz hasn’t come in here to clean up yet. But… that means the seer is probably still around. Cinder doesn’t see it lurking in this room though, so either it’s back in its little alcove or Salem has called it away for another purpose already. 

She raises one hand in front of her, and concentrates on her semblance. Pale blue light flashes, and the color shapes itself into the form of a woman with short hair and claw-shaped blades. She stands impassively as those blades strike toward her neck, and stop short despite their wielder’s will. 

“Hello again, Vernal,” Cinder says smoothly. “I do hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

Even as nothing but aura, just the outline of a body in pale blue, Cinder can easily make out her eyes narrowing.

“What,” Vernal asks through gritted teeth, “do you want?”

“For now? Simply an answer. Your tribe relocated after the failed attack on Haven. I want to know where.”

“No.” Vernal glares at her. “You can’t make me tell you.”

“I couldn’t before,” Cinder agrees. “But now that you’re out here, I can,  _ and _ I can force you to take me there. I have a week to kill, after all, and that’s exactly what I plan to do for this week. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. It makes no difference to me.”

* * *

The tribe’s camp should be just up ahead. The tall palisade is hard to miss from the sky, though from a distance the most noticeable sign is smoke from the cooking fires. 

Smoke that’s not present over the trees like it usually is. Like it should be. Something’s wrong. 

Raven fixes the camp’s location in her mind and swoops lower, weaving between the trees on her approach. The tribe knows to never shoot at a black bird, even if she didn’t make a habit of explaining why. She perches in a tree a short ways outside the wall – the very incomplete wall, not yet finished after moving campsites recently. 

Inside the wide clearing, Cinder Fall sits on a log near one edge. All around her are the burnt frames of tents, dropped weapons… and all the bodies. Dozens of them, all dead, covered in burn marks or jagged wounds where they’d been pierced through with glass. 

The entire tribe. Raven stares, paralyzed, struggling to even comprehend the destruction. After days of pushing herself nonstop to return here, to find her people again, not a single  _ one _ of them has survived her absence? 

To their credit, though, not a single one of them has a fatal wound in their back either. They fought bravely, they kept their faith in Raven’s imminent return… and she let them all down. 

Raven’s blood boils at the sight of  _ Cinder _ just casually sitting there amidst the carnage, tapping at her scroll as if nothing at all is the matter. She’s beaten her once before. If Cinder wants a rematch, she’ll beat her again. So she spreads her wings, and glides down to shift back just inside the clearing. 

“Oh, how nice of you to finally join us,” Cinder drawls, barely even glancing up. “I was wondering when you’d show up. Get lost on the way over here?”

“You’re not leaving here alive,” Raven warns. It’s all the introduction she needs. “I knew you were depraved, letting her put that  _ thing _ on you, but this is a step too far. First Vernal, and now…” She unsheathes her weapon, a blue blade first, but even in the face of that and a pair of flaming eyes, Cinder seems unperturbed. 

“Ah yes, Vernal… Meant a lot to you, I assume? Well, you’re about to see her again.”

“I won’t be the one dying here.”

Cinder only smiles. “I didn’t say  _ that…” _ She finally stands, and holds out her human hand to the side. In a flare of pale blue light, the outline of Vernal takes shape, until the completed form can move and speak on her own. 

“Raven, I–”

Whatever she was going to say, it’s cut off by a fireball thrown directly at Raven’s chest. “Vernal, kill her. Just like you helped me kill the others.”

“How many times do I have to teach you this lesson?” Raven charges in, her own ice-infused blade meeting with one of black glass, and the pair clash back and forth with neither scoring more than a minor hit on the other’s aura. 

Until one of Vernal’s thrown blades hits her in the shoulder, and the surprise opens her up to a blast of fire as well. Raven retreats a few steps, only to trip backward over one of the numerous corpses littering the area. 

She transforms into a bird just for a moment to right herself and fly up above Cinder, then turns back and hovers in the air. A sweep of her hand stirs up a wind all around, plucking leaves off the trees as it swirls in a circle around the camp. Above, the sky begins to cloud over. 

Cinder joins her in the air, and with every glass blade that Raven shatters, the cloud of razor-sharp shards around her only grows. Raven sheathes her blue blade and pulls out a white one instead, and when Cinder decides to release her swarm of glass fragments, she takes the dust-infused blade and snaps it to release the power within in a single burst. A shockwave ripples through the air and carries the shards with it, sending more than a few right back into Cinder’s face. 

Fire flares and Raven drops back to the ground again to avoid it. Immediately she’s rushed by Vernal with both crescent blades swinging, and Raven throws up a hasty defense. 

“What’s happened to you? How are you here?”

“I’m being controlled,” is the only answer. “I can’t stop. You have to fight back.”

But Raven doesn’t. She only pushes Vernal and her blades away and focuses back on Cinder, conjuring up a wall of ice just in time to block a hail of tiny fireballs. 

The moment Cinder’s feet are also on the ground, lightning strikes from the clouds above. Cinder screams and retaliates with a blast of fire at the sky itself, predictably failing to even reach the offending cloud. 

She backs off and lets Vernal fight Raven for a while. Her Grimm arm extends unnaturally far and rips apart a nearby tent, and moments later the heavy wooden pole she grabbed is coated in flame. A second to aim, and then the entire pole is hurled like a javelin toward Raven’s side. 

Raven doesn’t even move. Dodging to either side wouldn’t take her out of the projectile’s path, she can’t go forward into Vernal, and dodging backward might lead her dead companion into its way instead. And transforming into a bird is risky when she has two blades swinging at her face. 

So she merely waves a hand, and a portal appears to swallow the flaming log instead. It was tempting to send it to Qrow, but there’s a slightly higher aura cost to distant endpoints that she can’t afford to pay in the middle of a fight. Instead, the other end of the portal opens just to Raven’s other side, so that the pole and the fireballs that follow merely pass her by like she isn’t even there. 

Vernal’s eyes widen. “That still works? I thought…”

Despite everything, Raven smiles. “Self-love is a powerful thing.”

But so is hatred for others, and Cinder spares not a moment’s thought on the minutiae of Raven’s semblance. The instant the two portals disappear, a spray of fire and glass blankets the area and strikes against the auras of both Raven and Vernal. 

Cinder closes the distance between them with a larger molten glass blade in her hand. Raven whirls around and slashes with her sword, but only to slow Cinder’s approach. A ball of bright golden light grows in her free hand, and she continues her spinning movement to bring that side around into Cinder’s face. 

A push sends the radiant orb floating outward and Cinder covers her face with her Grimm arm. Raven takes the opportunity while she’s blinded to transform, and she soars upward to circle around behind. But her unwillingness to focus on Vernal costs her again, as a thrown disk clips her right wing and sends her sprawling to the ground in human form. 

She rolls just in time to dodge a fireball, but the second blast catches her as she stands. She sheathes her current blade and pulls out a yellow one instead, and brings it up to guard just as Vernal’s two crescents close in. The lightning infusion radiates through the metal blades and shocks Vernal’s hands, but hardly enough to be more than an annoyance. 

Another portal to herself, called up with a mere thought, redirects Cinder’s next barrage of magic into a few tents and the trees behind them – all of which happen to be flammable. The underbrush on the far side of the clearing is also smoldering by now, and Raven knows it hasn’t rained here in a few weeks. Much more of this, and the whole forest will go up in flames. 

She can’t take much more herself, either. She intensifies her magic to call down more lightning strikes at Cinder, pulling in wet air from miles around to form new thunderclouds overhead – with luck, that will deal with both the immediate and lingering effects of Cinder’s presence. 

But the fire just keeps coming, and she’s getting tired. She flew for hours before reaching what should have been a peaceful home, and to go directly into a fight is hard. It’s even harder to face the undead shade of her own lover, fighting alongside the same monster who killed her just days ago. 

Raven can’t spare a glance at her scroll, but she knows her aura is getting low. Hopefully Cinder’s is the same, or lower. 

If it is, she isn’t showing it. Cinder sprays glass from her fingertips, and Raven blocks the ones she can and lets the rest pass to either side. But they don’t fall to the ground as they pass – each splinter hangs in the air for a moment, and then explodes in a burst of flame. 

Raven staggers backward and sheathes her weapon once again. A raised hand pulls the clouds above her downward and extracts their moisture, which she then waves forward to encase Cinder’s Grimm arm in ice. The same goes for both of Vernal’s feet, tripping her before she can attack once more. 

She follows up with a flick of her fingers sending the tribe’s scattered swords flying toward Cinder from all sides, but half are blasted away with a wave of fire and the rest artfully sidestepped. 

And then Cinder throws a lightning bolt from her fingers. 

That’s new. 

It takes Raven entirely by surprise and burns off most of what remained of her aura. Really, something other than fire and glass? If she’s finally discovered that magic does more than just her few favorite things, that’s going to be a problem. 

That means Raven probably shouldn’t try to finish this here and now, as much as she’d like to. She’s been at a disadvantage this entire time, outnumbered and exhausted, and right now the best move to stay alive looks like a retreat. It hurts to let this maniac get away, but Cinder won’t be so lucky next time. 

Raven opens a portal behind her. Not to Qrow. Not to Yang, if she’s chosen to stay with Qrow and Oz. Not to Summer or Vernal. No, even after all she went through to fly back here from Patch, that remains her best option to visit again. 

She steps back, turning partway to look into the deep swirling red, and lingers just a split second in the strange tingling feeling of the portal’s interior. On the other side is sunlight – Tai must be outside in his garden again. 

With a quiet, final nod to Vernal, she turns completely and disappears from all that remains of the Branwen tribe. 

* * *

The thing about sunflowers is that they take a good deal of attention. Especially in the direct sun they’ve been getting the past several days, they just dry out so easily, and then they wilt and those beautiful yellow flowers don’t look as good. Their heads turn downward, away from the sun, and they sit there and pout until Tai comes back to water them again. 

Much like a younger Yang, actually, always needing to be the center of attention no matter what the occasion, to keep her yellow beauty burning bright. They’d always been her favorite. Ruby’s not so much, though he had tried a couple times to grow the red-petaled mutants for her instead. But those, along with the yellow roses, never seemed to do well. 

With both of them gone, it’s been lonely here on Patch. Ruby disappeared with her only goodbye a written note, and that was many months ago now. Yang stuck around a while to recover from the Fall of Beacon, but even she eventually left to go after Ruby. Even Qrow went off to guard the two of them and their teams, and to scout the world for any sign of the next Oz. 

The only clue to any of their whereabouts… is Mistral. The place Ruby had named as her goal, where she believed the perpetrators of Beacon’s destruction were from. But Ruby wouldn’t know anything about the true mastermind behind it all, she who lives outside the kingdoms, far to the northwest. Tai can only hope she and her friends don’t get mixed up in all that. 

It’s what tore Team STRQ apart, after all. 

Summer, dead. Raven, fled. Qrow, still tirelessly fighting and spying for Ozpin. And then there’s Tai, trying  _ so hard _ to settle down and have a peaceful life with his daughters, and yet… the war has come to him, and what little family he had left is gone. He can only hope they’re safe, wherever they are now. 

Did Qrow have the right idea? To keep up the fight, induct Yang and Ruby the moment they could hold a weapon, because it won’t stop happening just because he tries to set it aside? Or is Raven right, to call it hopeless and run until he can’t run any more? 

Summer would know what to do. She always did, even after Raven abandoned them. They’re all so lost without her. Although, now he thinks of it, she did keep serving on Ozpin’s missions until the day she never made it back, and that may be his answer right there. 

Tai pauses his watering, looks up at the sky, and sighs. If Yang and Ruby are taking sides in the invisible war – and if Qrow does find both them and Oz, they’ll learn about that part at least – then his own retirement won’t mean much anymore. He’ll have failed to keep them out of harm’s way. 

And if that happens, he might as well rejoin the struggle himself. At least give his daughters a helping hand, and make sure they really know what they’re getting into. 

If only Raven would come back too. He thought he’d seen her a few days ago, that black bird that had been watching him. Would a real crow or raven have left him a feather like that? Or was it just chance, and he’s reading too much into it? 

As if to answer his silent musing, the telltale sound of a portal opening comes from just behind and to his side. Tai sets the watering can down and stands, only to see Raven stumble as she comes through. 

A fireball streaks out after her and splashes against her aura. Color flickers across her body as she staggers back another step and raises one palm toward the portal and whoever is on the other side. 

Tai starts toward her, just as a spray of glass shards shoots out of the yawning red tear in space. The last shreds of orange fade out from Raven’s skin and several of the tiny knives stick into her arm and side, and she finally falls flat on her back into the plot of sunflowers behind. 

The portal itself flickers now that the aura sustaining it is broken, but Tai still dives in front of it. Just in time, as another fireball flies forth and stops short of its goal on Tai’s own full-strength aura. And then the passageway closes, and he’s left alone with his former teammate. 

He turns to help Raven up, but her movements are weak. The glass daggers piercing her flesh dissolve before his eyes into motes of light, and in their absence Raven’s blood can flow freely from her wounds. 

He’s going to need the first aid kit. Not the little one under the bathroom counter, the one for serious Grimm injuries. That first, and then he’ll call the Patch local hospital if he has to. It’s probably a good thing Raven is losing consciousness, just so she can’t complain. 

The bad thing about Raven losing consciousness is that her injuries are clearly serious. 

Tai resigns himself to the task of fixing up an ungrateful teammate-slash-ex-wife, and picks Raven up in both arms. At least these are his old gardening clothes, and getting them a little stained won’t hurt anything. 

Still, better to get her off the sunflowers. Blood has too much nitrogen and might make them stop blooming.


	3. Winter's Fading Sun

Raven did not expect to wake up again.

Yet here she is, apparently, laying in  _ someone’s _ bed with bandages wrapped around her midsection and more on her left arm. She doesn’t recognize the room, at least not from its ceiling alone. 

She’s almost certain she’s alive. One thing she does remember is that years ago, she’d asked Oz what the afterlife was like, and while he didn’t remember much – it seems people who leave it are not  _ meant _ to remember – she’s pretty sure she wouldn’t be in so much pain if she were already dead. 

Raven struggles to sit up, and lets out a grunt of pain. Just as she gets a view of the room around her, the door opens and in comes Taiyang Xiao Long. That’s right, she’d made a portal to him to escape. To him, since Vernal was no longer an option. 

“You’re awake!” Tai sounds almost as surprised at that fact as she is. He pulls out a scroll and quickly taps out a message. 

“Sure looks that way. Your doing, I assume?”

“Well… yes, I suppose. You were bleeding all over my garden. I had to do something.”

Raven rolls her eyes, and looks away. “Why?” she asks. “Why would you save  _ me?” _

Tai grabs a chair from across the room and sets it by the side of the bed. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“The strong survive. The weak don’t. I can take care of myself. I didn’t ask for your help.” The words sound hollow even to Raven’s own ears. 

“You taking care of yourself would have gotten you killed. Not to mention half my sunflowers. You were in no state to be asking anything.” Tai scoots the chair a little closer. “I saved you because it was the right thing to do. Do you really wish I hadn’t?”

Raven sighs, and stares up at the ceiling in silence for a moment before answering. “What does it even matter? If my entire tribe was  _ weak?” _

“Is… is that your way of saying they’re all dead, except for you?” Tai gets no response, but that alone tells him it’s probably a yes. “What happened? Who were you fighting?”

“The Fall Maiden.”

Tai’s words catch in his throat and he takes a moment to regain his composure. “Um. Okay. Is there… a reason  _ why?” _

“Because she’s a bitch who doesn’t know when to quit. I beat her ass once before but  _ apparently _ she lived and came back for a rematch.” Raven rolls her eyes again and starts to adjust her position in the bed, only to come up short as the pain in her side flares up. “I should have had her this time too. Damn fool only knows two tricks. If she’d been alone, if I hadn’t been so exhausted from flying all day…”

“…Right.” Tai leans back in his seat to think. He’d been mulling over the question of all this magic business ever since Raven crashed through into his yard, or even before. But now isn’t the time to interrogate Raven about what she knows, or more importantly, what she may have said to his daughters or Qrow if they happened to meet. 

Finally he purses his lips and sits up again, resolving to come back to all that later. “You should know,” he begins, “you were out for a couple days. Apart from me and the doctor I called in to help you, no one knows you’re here yet. If the Fall Maiden or anyone else is looking for you, there shouldn’t be any problems. You have time to recover.”

“Let her come.” Raven lets out a short bark of a laugh. “Though I doubt she will. If she’s hunting anyone now, it’ll be Yang.”

Tai’s eyes widen in shock once again. Yang, being personally targeted by a Maiden? If he didn’t know better – though does he, really? – he might think Raven was  _ trying _ to give him a heart attack. 

Finally he finds his voice again. “I’m going to want some details later,” he says. “Anything you know about my daughters since they left here. Right now, though…” He holds up his scroll. “Doctor wants a report on how you’re doing. Let me see those bandages.”

* * *

“Hey, so, uh…” Yang looks around at her friends and teammates. “Now that we’re all together, and not in any danger…”

From the front of the airship, Qrow clears his throat. “Not any  _ immediate _ danger, anyway,” he calls back to the main bay. “I’m sure Jimmy’ll have something for us on arrival.”

“Now that we have a few hours reprieve,” Yang corrects herself, “there’s something that slipped my mind before. Something I’m sure Ozpin would want to know, but at this point I don’t  _ care _ if he’s not listening and he misses it.”

“He might be listening,” Oscar supplies. He’s leaning against the opposite wall, next to Ren, looking nervous as ever as he speaks. “How else would he have known when to help me not crash this thing?”

“Whatever.” Yang rolls her eyes. “It’s about the vault, what happened down there. We all saw three people go down below: my mother Raven, Cinder, and that woman Vernal. When I got there, only Raven was left.”

“That’s what you told us that night,” Ruby says. “You convinced Raven to leave without the lamp.”

“Yes. For all her talk, my mother is a coward. A very powerful coward, but that’s what she is. I told her she didn’t want an even bigger target on her back than the one she already has.”

Yang stops again and looks around the group expectantly. “Anyone?”

There is a moment of silence, then Jaune speaks up. “The target she already has?”

“Exactly.” Yang raises one finger. “She’s the Spring Maiden.  _ My mother _ is the Spring Maiden.”

“She’s what?” Qrow appears in the doorway to the front cabin. “Can’t believe I’m leaving us all in the hands of the crazy old lady while we’re over the middle of the ocean, but my  _ sister _ is  _ what? _ The sister who  _ wants me dead?” _

“Yep. Sorry, Uncle Qrow, but… there’s actually more.”

Qrow drops his face to one hand, while the other finds the flask at his belt. But it merely rests there, without picking it up for a drink. 

“When I got to the vault, Vernal was dead,” Yang repeats. “But Raven didn’t just inherit the powers then. She had them the entire time. She admitted as much to me. She found the previous Spring, gained her trust, and then killed her. Then made a decoy for when Salem found her.”

“A decoy that didn’t work.” Ruby looks a little queasy at the thought, and Yang can’t exactly blame her. Even if Vernal wasn’t anyone they knew, was someone they’d just fought against, the idea of a woman dying right beneath their feet while none of them even knew or could help…

“It worked for a while,” Weiss points out. “Had you and I fooled at the camp. But she couldn’t have opened the vault door, and Cinder must have killed her for it.”

“Yeah.” Yang looks down at her feet. 

“At least Cinder’s gone too?” Weiss offers. 

“Even if her legacy will always be with us.” Ren nods at the empty space between where he leans against the wall and where Jaune and Nora sit a short ways away. “I hate to take pleasure in another’s demise, but with someone like her…”

“Yang.” Qrow lingers in the doorway. “Did you see another body down there? Cinder? Or only the other one?”

Yang shakes her head silently. 

“Then we can hope, but I wouldn’t bet on it.” Qrow’s hand traces over his flask once again. “I saw Cinder on Beacon Tower that night, after Ruby was through with her. Frozen in stone, just like the dragon. She should’ve been dead then, and I’ve been cursing myself ever since for not making sure of it.”

“But we should be safe in Atlas!” Ruby gives a thumbs-up, but it does little to lighten the mood. “Even if she is alive, if  _ we _ had such a hard time getting this airship, there’s no way she could follow us. We’ll get the lamp to Ironwood. Maybe he’ll even have a plan where Ozpin didn’t.”

Qrow merely sighs and turns back to the front cabin, to take back control of the airship from Maria. As he disappears, the students in the airship’s bay hear him mutter to himself, “What could go wrong?”

* * *

“Are you feeling any better?” Tai asks, nudging the door shut behind him with one foot. He sets the tray of tea in his hands down on the bedside table and waits patiently for Raven to take it. 

“Physically, yes,” Raven grumbles. “Otherwise, no, I’m fucking pissed and I hate being cooped up in here where I can’t give Cinder the beating she so rightfully deserves.”

She takes a sip of her tea, and despite everything, almost smiles. “I remember this. You and Summer’s favorite. Supposed to help aura recovery.”

Tai looks down and away. “Yes. Drink up, you’ll need it. You  _ were _ stabbed about a dozen times. Thankfully the blades were small and most of them didn’t hit anything vital, but the quicker you heal up the less chance there is of internal bleeding starting up again.”

“I know.” Raven takes another sip. “Personally I prefer mint, but I suppose I do need the aura.”

Tai returns his gaze to Raven’s face. “That reminds me, actually, there is one thing that’s been bothering me. Your aura. The Raven I knew had a dark red aura, same as Qrow’s. But I saw yours break as you came through that portal, and it was orange. So I just have one question… who are you?”

Raven rolls her eyes. “I  _ am _ Raven Branwen. You saw my semblance. And… Do you really want to hear this now?”

“I do, actually. If you are who you say, then I want to know how you managed to change what  _ should _ be the inherent color of your being.”

“Then let me answer a different question first. How did I survive a battle with the Fall Maiden? How did I beat her once, before she came back with reinforcements?” Raven lays back against the pillows and closes her eyes. After a moment she grits her teeth and sits up straight again, and her eyes spring open, now rimmed with pinkish flame. 

“Because I’m one too! I’m the  _ Spring _ Maiden. I have been for seven years.”

Tai steps back at the display, and is suddenly thankful he set down the tray  _ before _ being startled like this. 

“I know what you’re thinking. Didn’t the old Spring disappear ten years ago? She did. And the Branwen tribe found her. Her name was Aureolin Goldenrod.”

Tai’s eyes narrow. “I get the feeling I’m going to want a seat for this.” He crosses the room to drag a desk chair over to the side of the bed. 

“The Spring Maiden was scared. She’d been found by Oz within weeks of gaining her powers and forced into training with him. She never wanted any part of this magical world we live in. So she ran away… got picked up by Raven, who realized just what she’d found…” Raven blinks a few times and shakes her head. “I saw that power she had and wanted to get close to it.”

“And I did. We did. Lin became a valuable member of the tribe. But she was still terrified of magic, and she stayed by Raven for protection. And despite everything Rav– I believed about myself, and my values… I did find myself fond of this girl. I knew she was  _ weak, _ she might not survive a battle someday, and I  _ should _ have just killed her to take the Spring power for myself. Raven would have been in her final thoughts anyway, but to be sure, to keep it safely in hand…”

Raven pauses her story. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I don’t know what’s worse,” Tai says softly. “That you’d admit to wanting to murder an innocent… that it’s so easy for you to say I dare not  _ think _ about how much you’ve actually done it, with that tribe of bandits you lead… or that the longer you talk the more I’m sure you’re  _ not _ the Raven I knew at Beacon.”

“I am… usually. Are you familiar with the eternal struggle of all women who love women?”

Tai cocks his head to one side, confused. “Not a woman myself, so… no?”

“The question is this: do I want to be  _ with _ her, or do I want to  _ be _ her? Lin’s answer was a resounding  _ yes. _ We came up with an idea together, to protect both of us, the Maiden power, and the tribe, all at once.”

“…I don’t think I like where this is going.”

Raven ignores his comment. “We took a trip to Atlas. Remember when Oz told us all about the fancy new tech they’d invented there? I knew they wanted it for the Winter Maiden who was getting old, and they’d keep a machine near her at all times. We just needed to find  _ her.” _

“And that wasn’t even hard.” Raven shrugs. “We located Fria’s granddaughter, Vernal… somewhat estranged, though not by choice. She didn’t have the military clearance necessary to see her own grandmother, so she was quite motivated to help us sneak in. Once there, it was a simple matter to discard Aureolin’s weak body  _ without _ sacrificing her life.”

Tai’s mouth hangs open. “You transferred the Spring Maiden power onto yourself.”

“Not just the power… the whole person. Once the magic binds to an aura it becomes inseparable except by death. And as much as Raven talks about doing anything necessary to survive… she could never kill me. Just add it to the list of crazy things people do for love.”

“Is this… Aureolin speaking now?” 

Raven shrugs again. “We’re  _ barely _ even separate, these days. You must think me a hypocrite, after all I used to rail against what Ozpin does to his hosts… but it’s different when both parties consent. And now you know. Deep red plus sunny yellow makes orange.”

Raven’s body glows with that same fiery color Tai saw when she crashed through into his garden, but then something shifts. She shuts her eyes and freezes as if tuning out the entire world around, and the color over her body darkens to red-orange, then shifts back to something even paler than before. It oscillates between the two once more, then settles back into a medium orange-gold as Raven relaxes. 

“Vernal came back with us to the tribe. We tripped an alarm on the way out of the Winter Maiden’s room, got arrested, broke out, fled the kingdom, you know how it goes. Fria was starting to show signs of dementia and only half recognized her granddaughter, so it was no big loss being unable to visit her again. By now, I wonder if she even remembers she’s a Maiden. Vernal became our decoy Spring – with a name like that, how could we not? – and she served us well when Salem’s agents came knocking.”

Raven looks away, and leans back into the stack of pillows again. 

“I’m sorry,” Tai says, but the comforting hand he offers is swatted away. 

“We  _ will _ see Cinder Fall pay for what she’s done. If she doesn’t come after me again, that means she’s following Yang and Qrow and Oz instead. I can track them and take her down.”

Tai raises an eyebrow. “Not in that condition, you won’t. You’re going to rest – both of you – and I expect you to still be here when I come back to bring you dinner. Got it?”

Raven sighs deeply. “Understood.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember in Vox Faunus, [when Ozbot broke into Fria's room to inspect the transference machine and was told about two women in red and yellow who used it years ago](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22312813/chapters/63043639)... 
> 
> Now you know who they were and what they were doing!


	4. An Unkindness of Ravens

“This disguise is ridiculous.”

Tai only shrugs as he and Raven walk through the streets of Vale. “You’re the one who insisted on it. Though I’m not sure I’d really call a pair of my pants and one of Yang’s old jackets a disguise.”

“Well I can’t very well borrow from Summer, now can I? She’s so tiny, none of her clothes would fit me.”

Tai falls silent, and walks a little faster. 

“Anyway, healed or not, I’d rather not be seen,” Raven tries again. “Too many people in this kingdom could recognize me, and I’ve been here too long already. Let’s just get to this weaponsmith you know, give him the stuff, and head back to Patch.”

“His shop’s right up here.” A response, this time, but still unusually terse. 

Whatever the reason, Raven must have hit a touchy subject. Better avoid that in the future, if only to not get thrown out of a free lodging. Maybe Tai and Summer had a falling out? That  _ would _ explain why Raven hasn’t seen her in the nearly two weeks she’s been in Vale. 

But the weaponsmith is indeed right there, and further thought on the subject is cut off as the pair enter and Tai approaches the counter.

“Taiyang! How have you been? Who’s this you’ve brought to see me?” The smith himself, a burly man with red hair and a matching cat tail, beams at his guests. 

“Old friend passing through, just needs some repairs.” Tai motions for Raven to bring out her weapon, and she draws a red blade from her sheath. “Tell Andre what you need.”

“I need dust-infused blades,” she states clearly, watching to see the smith’s reaction, but he doesn’t flinch at the request. Good. Maybe he’s really as competent as Tai made him sound. Raven puts the blade back and holds out the handle alone. “Several of them, no handles, only fasteners to fit into this.”

“Wow.” Andre nods with clear admiration in his eyes. “Quite a weapon you’ve got there. May I?”

Raven reluctantly unhooks the weapon from her belt and hands it over. 

“Looks like you’ll need…” The smith counts out the remaining blades in the sheath and estimates the width of the space left over. “Twelve more? You sure break a lot of swords, don’t you?”

“That tends to happen when you’re fighting the woman responsible for the Fall of Beacon.”

Andre freezes, then looks to Tai. 

“She’s serious,” Tai confirms. “She fought Cinder Fall. Twice, actually, and somehow they’re both still alive.”

_ “Damn.” _ Andre’s smile widens even further. “Pity she escaped, but if you stood up to that one, you’ve done us all a service. Whatever you need done, I’ll do it half price.” 

“Thank you. I have the dust you’ll need right here.” They’d stopped by a small dust shop on the way, and Tai had told her some story about it being held up while Ruby was inside. Of course she’d beaten the goons up and gone in pursuit of their boss. She really is just like her mother. 

“Mostly fire, some lightning, wind, ice… Alright. For an order this large, I’d expect a week and a half before it’s all finished, and a cost of…” Andre takes out a calculator from under the counter and presses a few buttons. “Call it twenty-eight thousand lien?”

“Done.” Raven opens her wallet and takes out a credit card. “Charge it to this.”

Beside her, Tai startles. “You just… have that? On hand?”

“Joint account, of which I’m now the only surviving owner. You can thank Cinder for both my needing repairs  _ and _ being able to afford them.”

And with that the room falls silent once again. Andre looks to Tai. Tai looks to Raven. Raven glances between the two innocently. She’s just saying what happened. Why is everyone so scandalized? It’s not like she admitted the money came from years of banditry and raiding unsuspecting innocent villages. 

“My condolences,” Andre says finally. “I’ll get your weapon rebuilt just as soon as I can.”

* * *

“Well, isn’t this a nice apartment we’ve got.” Cinder stares out the large window over the tall skyscrapers of Atlas, fire flickering absentmindedly between the fingers of one hand. “Neo, do something about that body, would you?”

Pink sparkles shimmer over Neo’s body, and in their wake they leave a perfect illusion of the apartment owner, very much alive. The dead version on the floor is quickly reimagined as a piece of broken furniture which won’t arouse suspicion to carry out of the building. 

_ Is there really no lower limit to what you’ll murder someone over? _

“Shut up, Vernal.” Cinder paces back and forth in front of the window as Neo picks up the disguised body and slips outside. “I don’t have to listen to you.”

_ Oh, but you do, and I intend to take full advantage of that fact. I was born and raised in Atlas, you know. Why don’t you let me out for a little while? _

“I’m not bringing  _ any _ summon out around Neo. She can’t know about my semblance. She’s too useful not to keep around for the future.”

_ Oh, of course, betray the one and only person who’s working with you willingly. Great plan. _ Projected into Cinder’s mind next is the distinct feeling of an eyeroll.  _ This sort of thing is precisely why Raven – and this kid Ruby – are going to outlive you. You have no idea how to really work with anyone. _

Cinder starts to reply, but the voice in her head isn’t finished yet.  _ It’s why Ozpin is doomed to fail too. Same reason. Once again, when it comes to surviving in this world, Raven is just better at it.  _

“Raven ran away from our fight. She’s a coward and her semblance only enables that tendency.  _ Mine _ gives me allies, people I can trust. People I don’t  _ need _ to trust, because they – because  _ you _ – have no choice but to obey.” 

_ Raven just didn’t want to fight me, because she cares about me. Her semblance wouldn’t exist if she didn’t really, genuinely care about others. It’s not cowardly to love people, it’s what makes you a functional human being. Not that you’d know anything about that. _

Cinder makes a frustrated noise and throws a fireball into the far wall, then says through gritted teeth, “I’ll kill you again if I have to.”

_ And lose your only real contact from Atlas? I don’t think so. My grandmother is a rather important person around here… and if she ever finds out you killed me, that will be the end of your miserable, power-hungry life right then and there. _

“Oh really?” Cinder’s eye lights up with its ring of flame, and she smiles at her reflection in the glass. “You think some old lady could beat me? Who is she? I’ll go prove you wrong.”

_ You know you can’t make me tell you. Not unless you bring me outside first. And then what’s to say I won’t somehow get a message out? Tell someone I’m here? You’re here? Tell Neo at least, what you’re planning to do to her as soon as you’ve completed your shared revenge? Oh, that would be much too great a risk, wouldn’t it? And so my grandmother, someone I will say even the great, untrusting Ironwood keeps close by his side, will just have to remain anonymous. _

“I wouldn’t underestimate Atlesian recordkeeping. You know, the election’s coming up in a few days, and those  _ always _ bring Grimm no matter what the results. Perfect cover for a spot of murder.” Cinder conjures a small glass knife and twirls it between her fingers. “Any relatives you have in this kingdom, I’m sure I can track them down. Right after I deal with Ruby, Neo, the Winter Maiden, and anyone else who gets in my way.”

In her mind, Vernal only laughs. Cinder doesn’t quite see what’s so funny. And with the sound of Neo’s returning footsteps nearing the door, it seems she’ll have to focus her attention back to the outside world again. 

* * *

“So I guess I’m stuck here another week and a half.” Raven sighs, and pushes back her chair to rest her feet on the table. “Just what I needed. Thanks, Cinder.”

Tai sits down across from her with a mug of tea. “Well, it’s not so bad, is it? You’ve been here two weeks already and neither of us has tried to kill the other. I’d call that a good start.”

Raven glares at him. 

“Sorry,” Tai says. “You know, apart from the ‘you nearly died’ part, this has all been amazingly close to the best case scenario in my head.” 

The glare is replaced with a single raised eyebrow. 

“With the girls away, it gets lonely on Patch. Even when they were just up at Beacon. Qrow’s not much company, and then he left too. So to have you here again… I know it’s been a long time, a lot’s happened, but we can be civil at least. And that’s a lot better than us meeting each other again could have been.”

“I suppose. You didn’t have to put up with me like this. You still don’t.”

“No… but why not? Can I not show kindness in the name of our past friendship? Can I not go against my better judgment for a moment and make a bet that seems to be turning out well? I thought you hated me. I’m pretty sure you thought I hated you too. Isn’t it good that we were both wrong?”

Raven ponders this in silence for a while. “I suppose so. But you must know you weren’t exactly my first choice of destination.”

Tai nods solemnly and takes a sip of his tea. 

“Qrow and Summer are out, obviously. But you’re not part of Ozpin’s doomed fight anymore, so… if I couldn’t go to Vernal…” Raven looks down and away. 

“Vernal… You mentioned that name before. Your decoy Maiden?”

“And second in command of the tribe. She died because of me. They all did.” Raven gets up to pour herself a mug of hot water as well, then goes searching for a teabag in Tai’s cabinets. “Vernal was with me at the Haven vault. I should have left her up above. We both  _ knew _ she couldn’t open the door, and we knew we’d have to fight Cinder when the truth came out. But what I didn’t anticipate… was that Cinder would try to kill her before she even reached it.”

“I’m sorry. Ruby told me about Cinder, everything she did at Beacon. Killed her friend, right in front of her. And now, the same again.”

“A friend… yes.” Raven falls silent once again. She startles slightly as Zwei barks once from the doorway, but reaches down a hand to pet him when he comes closer. “All these years I have  _ survived, _ I have led the tribe, and then… one mistake, and  _ everything _ I’ve worked for is gone. The mistake of not betraying Cinder even sooner than I was going to.”

Tai opens his mouth to respond, but Raven isn’t done yet. “Why  _ should _ I have survived? Because I’m the strongest, I’m the only person who can match Cinder one on one. But why  _ did _ I survive? Because even after losing Vernal, I let my own issues blind me and I abandoned the tribe that depended on me. I portaled to you from the vault instead of to Qrow, and that delayed my return by days. I gave Cinder the perfect opening.”

“You couldn’t have known. Didn’t you say you thought you’d killed her?” Tai pauses. “Wait, you… that really  _ was _ you I saw, that bird?”

Raven nods. “That was me. I came here, flew back, and…” Suddenly, her face twists with rage and she slams one fist on the table, sloshing the remaining tea in both mugs. “Do you  _ know _ what Cinder does with people she’s killed? What her  _ semblance _ does?”

Tai’s quizzical look tells her all she needs to know. “Normally, when someone dies, that’s the end. They’re gone. But not for Cinder. When  _ she _ kills someone, they stay. With her. And she can bring them back as thralls, to fight again. Worse than a copy like the Schnees make, because it  _ is _ them, but they’re bound to obey.”

Tai’s mouth hangs open with a terrible realization. “She made you fight Vernal.”

Another slow nod, before Raven rests her face in her hands. “It’s my fault she died. It’s my fault she’s  _ stuck _ with that  _ monster _ for who knows how long, to be carted around to fight Cinder’s battles for her against people the tribe has no business fighting. All because I foolishly assumed that Cinder Fall would do the sane thing and turn on us  _ after _ opening the vault.”

“It is  _ not _ your fault.” Tai’s voice is gentle, but firm on this point. “The blame is  _ only _ Cinder’s. She’s the one who did all this, to you and to all the others.”

He reaches over the table to put a hand on Raven’s arm, but she jerks back at the touch and stays out of reach. “I failed them. I was the tribe’s strength. And what am I now? Cooped up here, half a world away, with nothing even left to go back to. Because I let them all down for just a few days.”

“Just because you were involved, that does not make it your fault,” Tai reiterates. 

“Doesn’t it?” Raven glares at him again, only to stop and lean down as Zwei looks up at her from beside her chair. In spite of herself, she smiles slightly, and picks up the small dog to rest in her lap. “The people who raised me are dead. All of them! Because of decisions  _ I _ made.”

“Because of decisions  _ Cinder _ made. She’s the one who killed them, not you. And, forgive me if this comes out wrong, but… You were raised by the tribe, but you are not the living embodiment of the group.” Tai holds up a hand to forestall Raven’s protest. “You led the tribe, but you also exist as your own person. Or people, whatever. I think you need to reclaim what it means to be  _ Raven, _ and not only the leader of the Branwen tribe.”

Raven looks up from gently petting Zwei, with narrowed eyes. 

“You probably don’t want to hear this now, but you’ll have to at some point. It’s the same thing I told Yang, after Beacon. Whether it’s a right arm and a girl I’m reasonably sure she’s in love with, or a tribe. They’re gone. You can’t bring them back. Killing Cinder won’t bring them back. But what you  _ can _ do is go forward. Maybe not right away, but there’s another life out there just waiting for you, whenever you find the strength to look for it.”

Raven rolls her eyes. “I  _ have _ no life outside the tribe.”

“You did for four years at Beacon.”

“Is that what you want? Get the team back together? Go off and fight against the one thing in this world that can’t be fought?”

“No.” Tai shakes his head solemnly. “There’s no bringing back Team STRQ either. But there was more to those days than a team, more than getting roped into Ozpin’s fight. You had  _ friends. _ You had  _ interests. _ You were a  _ person, _ not just a role.”

“And I’m not a person anymore? What exactly do you propose I do?” Raven raises one eyebrow. “I don’t think you really understand at all what I’ve gone through. Yang lost an arm, sure. She got a new one. I lost  _ people. _ People who can’t be replaced.”

“Yang lost Blake and Weiss. Ruby too, when she left with her friends. She was alone here, just like you are.” Tai takes a sip of tea and gives Raven a comforting smile. “I just want you to know, you don’t  _ have _ to be alone. You’re not the only one who’s lost people. We all have.”

No change in the skeptical expression across the table. “Raven,” Tai begins. “Were you… either of you… in love with Vernal?”

He still gets no answer in words, but it’s clear that with that question,  _ something _ within Raven just broke. She lowers her gaze, moving as if to rest her head in her hands once again, but seems almost to miss as she ends up instead with her head resting on her forearms, staring down into her lap. 

Zwei wriggles free as she bends over, and jumps down to the floor. 

“Raven?”

Two fingers slowly lift from the table, then drop again. Raven’s whole body shakes, and Tai doesn’t even need to see to tell that what broke was not only the barely taped together heart within, but the floodgates just behind her eyes. 

Her aura flares up, just enough to be visible as an orange sheen over her clothes, and slowly lightens into a sunny yellow not far removed from Yang’s own color. Tai gets up and moves around the table, and kneels by the side of her chair. “Aureolin, look at me. You’re going to make it through this. You both are.”

The woman in the chair tilts her head to look at him through teary eyes. And then, after just the most cursory wipe across her face, she pushes the seat back and drops to her knees on the floor as well, and throws her arms around Tai to sob into his shoulder. 

“It’s okay…” Tai tentatively returns the hug. “That’s right, let it all out. Don’t let Raven bottle things up forever.”

Aureolin finally pulls away, but Tai catches her hand as she tries to stand. “Stay. Just… tell me about her. Vernal. If you never properly mourn the loss, you won’t start to heal. Stay with me, we’ll sit on the floor if we have to, and just tell me what she was like. The tribe too. Everything you loved… everything you didn’t… Let it out.”

For a moment, all the bereaved Maiden can do is sob. But then, she wipes her cheeks dry again, and nods.


	5. As The Qrow Flies

A knock at the front door is not what Raven either expected or hoped for after a full week of periodically sitting down with Tai, often on the kitchen floor, and talking about  _ feelings. _ It was painful enough pulling apart from her – quite literal, even if not divinely ordained – soulmate enough for Aureolin to break down in tears without Raven’s input, but then being expected to do the same once she was back in front? Sickening, all of it. That isn’t how Raven Branwen handles her emotions. 

But Tai had insisted. And with everything Lin had bared upfront, that bottle of grief and rage had become too thoroughly punctured to ever cork again. At least now it’s been emptied, mostly, and isn’t leaking all over the rest of her mind anymore. 

Whoever this is at the door, whatever salesman or petition-bearer or, gods forbid, a missionary, they’ll be expecting Tai. Sure, he might complain a little if he arrived too late and saw his surely unwanted guests baffled by a talking bird, but could he really blame her for scaring them off? Wouldn’t it be worth it to have a little fun?

Sadly, it may not be possible after all. The moment she cracks the door open, intending to stay hidden behind it as it swings and then transform, a blur of movement zips inside and lands at the kitchen table. She turns, too startled to even remember what she was planning, only for voices on either side of her to speak, incredulously, “Raven?”

Of all the people who could have knocked on Tai’s door today, why  _ couldn’t _ it have been some annoying salesman? Why did it have to be Bartholomew and Peter?

Tai finally makes it downstairs to greet the two of them, and offers everyone a seat at the table. “Welcome, welcome! I see you’ve already met Raven.”

“Yes, an unusual sight, to be sure,” Barty says, his gaze fixated on Raven’s face. 

Raven leans against the kitchen counter even as the rest all take a seat. “I was expecting some annoying solicitation at the door, not… old Academy friends who you’ve clearly kept in contact with.”

“Well, I wasn’t expecting you two either,” Tai says, “not that I’m complaining. I can always use some company around here.”

“You know we’re curious about your girls’ journey,” Barty begins. 

“…But it seems  _ we _ may be the ones with news for  _ you, _ for a change,” Peter finishes for him. He reaches into his coat and produces an envelope, and hands it over to Tai. “Though I admit, I now have a few more questions than I did five minutes ago.”

“A letter?” Tai turns the envelope over in his hands. “From Ruby, with a return address in Mistral city. They made it!” 

Even as Tai smiles from ear to ear, Raven only scowls. “I could have told you that much.”

“As you can see, it’s addressed to one Yang Xiao Long,” Barty points out as Tai tears into the envelope. “It was delivered to Beacon, but, as she’s no longer there…”

“No longer here either.” Tai’s grin fades, but not completely. “But I know she got to Mistral.”

Raven nods. “She found me, and demanded rather forcefully that I send her to Qrow and Ruby. The lot of them all made it to Haven Academy.” She looks to the two newcomers and asks, “Speaking of Academies, what were you both doing up at Beacon?”

“Ah, right, you wouldn’t know.” Barty stands and holds out both arms to indicate Peter in his seat. “Is this not the quintessential image of a Grimm Studies professor? Is  _ this–” _ He points next to himself. “–not the perfect likeness of a History professor?”

“No,” Raven says.

Peter bursts out laughing. “Still the same old Raven, I see!” Raven looks away to hide her discomfort, and the jovial apparently-professor doesn’t even notice. “Poppy freelanced in Mistral for a while, recently moved back here actually. And our distinguished team leader has been made Headmistress!”

“Under regrettable circumstances,” Barty adds, “but there couldn’t be a better person for the job than our Glynda. I must admit though, I’m curious, what brings you back here again, Raven?”

“I’m… visiting. There was some… old business Ozpin was involved in, at Haven, and the conclusion of it brought me back to Vale.”

“Team STRQ worked closely with him in the past,” Tai adds. “Truly a shame to lose him in the Fall.”

“But it seems Team RWBY are picking up a few last things he wanted done,” Raven continues. “Along with Qrow. They’re transporting a prized possession of his, I believe.” Tai shoots her a look, but he stifles his alarm before either of the guests picks up on it. “I tried to tell Yang it was no use, the man’s dead after all, but if she wants to hold onto some old lamp, that’s her own business.”

“We can talk about all that later,” Tai says. “There’s no need to trouble our guests with it. Now, the letter…” 

Finally the group quiets down enough that he can read without interruption. “Hey sis! I hope my letters have been reaching you and Dad. Handwritten stuff’s never been super reliable, but I guess it’s all we’ve got these days. Anyway, in case you haven’t been getting them, I want to say I’m sorry for leaving the way I did.”

Tai smiles, and nods at the paper in his hand. “You did what you had to do. Especially if…” He looks to Raven. “Did they stop the people they went there to stop?”

“I’d call it a draw.”

“I know you told me it was a reckless idea, and after everything I’ve been through, I can definitely say you were right,” Tai quotes. “Yeah, sounds like Ruby hasn’t had a good time out there. I’m just glad she’s okay. She  _ is _ okay, right?”

“Was the last time I saw her. The girl’s a perfect copy of Summer, you know, right down to the eyes and the motivational bullshit.”

Tai continues reading in silence for a moment, then picks up with another pointed look to Raven. “It’s scary, not knowing what’s going to happen next. And the things we  _ do _ know now, how bad it can all get, that almost makes it all worse.”

Peter looks over his shoulder. “Which is why I’m out here every day, to do whatever I can, wherever I can, and hopefully do some good.” He claps Tai on the back. “Now those are the words of a real huntress. Be proud of your daughter. Both of them.”

“But if we gave up every time we lost, we’d never be able to move forward,” Tai reads. “Forward, Raven. There’s no going back. Just think of–” He glances back at the letter again. “–all the beautiful things the future might have waiting for you. You just need the strength to change.”

“To be there for other people, who might one day be lost without us,” Barty continues after him. “Another true huntress sentiment. You told us Qrow was looking after the students, but… have you considered meeting up with them yourself, Tai? I’m sure Signal would grant you a semester’s leave.”

“I don’t know,” Tai admits. “They seem to be involved in something I’d hoped they would never have to see. It  _ has _ crossed my mind, that if I’ve failed to protect them on my terms, I can still do so on theirs.”

He looks down at the last part of the letter. “Because there are plenty of people out there who are still lost, and even more who will try to gain everything they can from their sorrow. Believe me when I say, I know it can feel impossible.” Tai sighs, and lets the paper fall to the table. 

Barty picks it up. “A struggle against some unstoppable monster we can never hope to beat? I do hope she’s not being literal.”

Raven’s eyes narrow and she snatches the letter out of his grip to read the next few lines. “What did she…” She trails off, and nearly drops the paper herself. “If not for us, then for the people we’ve already… For the people we haven’t lost yet. I miss you so much.”

The letter flutters from her limp fingers. Raven blinks, hard, and turns away from the table. “Excuse me, I…” She doesn’t even finish the thought, only hurries away and disappears up the stairs. 

“Is… she all right?” Peter asks. 

In a quiet voice as he leans down to take Ruby’s letter from the floor, Tai answers, “Has she ever been?” He skims the part where Ruby details her team’s progress and meeting Qrow. “But if I’m being honest… she might finally be on her way to becoming better. For herself and…” He sighs again and pushes his chair back. “For the few she hasn’t lost yet.”

* * *

“You didn’t tell me Yang has the  _ Relic of Knowledge!” _ Not a minute after Barty and Peter left, Tai corners Raven in her bedroom and starts interrogating her. “What happened at Haven? All of it! What  _ exactly _ are my daughters wrapped up in?”

“I told you Yang was a higher priority for Cinder to track down than I am, back when I first showed up here,” Raven replies innocently. “Because the Spring Maiden’s key is no longer needed.”

Tai’s furious glare doesn’t waver. 

“She chose this knowingly,” Raven says, staring back with equal intensity. “I told her the truth about Ozpin and his schemes when she showed up at the tribe. Then  _ I _ was going to double-cross Cinder and take the Relic myself, but Yang stopped me. She  _ chose _ to side with Oz and Qrow, and put that target on herself, and I… I decided three questions wasn’t worth the trouble after all.”

Tai takes a few deep breaths to calm himself as he paces back and forth. “At least she’s not totally in the dark about what she’s carrying,” he says. “Though I still don’t want my daughters mixed up in this war against Salem.”

“You and me both. I got out while I still could. Stayed out for eighteen years until Salem finally found me. Too bad Yang doesn’t have that good sense.”

Tai only sighs. “I tried  _ so hard _ to give them a normal life, without any of the business Team STRQ was involved in for so long. But if they’re involved anyway… it’s like I was saying earlier, I feel like I should help them now. Quit Signal, you and I catch up with the girls.”

“I am  _ not _ helping Ozpin again.”

“That’s not what I said. Protecting my daughters,  _ your _ daughter, that’s the goal. I’m not opposed to Oz like you are, but he’s hardly a priority for me these days.” Tai sits down on the edge of the bed and gestures as if to invite Raven to sit next to him, but she stays standing a short distance away. “At least let me know if they’re okay right now, find out where they are? I know you can do it.”

Raven raises one eyebrow at him. “You mean a spy portal? Haven’t needed to do that in a long time. No, wait, I did spy on Qrow once at Haven, never mind.”

She finally moves to take a seat herself, but leaves a good foot of space between her and Tai. She raises one hand, and with a flick of her fingers a tiny portal opens in the air before them, just an inch or two across. Nothing can be seen through the swirling red, but voices carry clearly across the vast distance. 

“Hey, Ruby. You with us?” Tai racks his brain to identify the vaguely familiar voice. One of Ruby and Yang’s teammates, maybe?

“Yeah. Silver eyes are  _ draining. _ Even if you’re not running around doing other things too.” And  _ that’s _ Ruby’s voice. 

Tai smiles and starts to say something to Raven, but she puts a finger to her lips. Right. Voices will carry through the portal the other way too. 

An unfamiliar voice comes next. Tai is pretty sure it’s not any of his daughters’ friends. He never spent that much time with any of them, but he’d remember that accent. “Silver eyes, huh? Is that what all that flashing was?”

“Sure is.” And there’s Yang! They’re together! Wherever they are. “My lil sister’s a badass. She’s the bee’s knees!” Wait, of course they’re together. This must be a portal to Yang; there’s no way she’d have one to Ruby directly. 

“I distinctly remember  _ something _ about not calling me that.”

Tai gets up and steps away from the tiny portal, beckoning Raven to follow where they won’t be overheard. “They’re both okay, they’re with each other, that’s what I needed to know,” he says in a low voice. “But silver eyes? She used them once on Beacon Tower, but… was she doing it on command just now?”

Raven shrugs. “She started to use them once at Haven.”

“That’s another target on her back. If Salem knows about her…”

“She does. She gave Cinder a Grimm arm after Ruby’s eyes took off the original.” Before Tai can recover from yet another wave of panic, Raven moves back to sit on the bed, where they can’t speak aloud without being overheard. 

Ruby’s voice comes through the portal once more. “So where’s Qrow? And Clover?”

“Where do you  _ think?” _ the accented voice asks, as if it’s supposed to be obvious. “About damn  _ time, _ honestly. You kids haven’t been here for long, but believe me, it’s been painful to watch.”

Yang doesn’t seem to know any more than Ruby. An unfamiliar male voice starts to explain, but raises more questions than he answers. “While you were… missing… our  _ oh so accomplished _ captain has been trying very hard to flirt with your uncle.”

Tai and Raven exchange another look. A wave of Raven’s hand dismisses the portal, and Tai immediately takes the chance to speak up. “Someone’s flirting with Qrow? You suppose he’s noticed?”

“Not just anyone. Didn’t you hear the name? Clover? Who’s a captain of something?”

Tai only shrugs. 

“They’re in  _ Atlas. _ Working with Ironwood’s own top soldiers. Figures, he was always one of Ozpin’s stooges too.” Raven raises her hand again, but doesn’t yet flick her fingers. “Want to listen in and see how my  _ dear _ brother handles a date?”

She doesn’t wait for an answer. A new portal appears in the air, and she and Tai both lean forward to listen through to the other end. 

“For the record, this is  _ not _ a date.” Qrow’s voice, unmistakeably. 

“Of course it isn’t.” That unfamiliar voice must be Clover, though Tai still isn’t familiar with who exactly that is or what importance the man holds. 

After a little while, Qrow’s voice is heard once again. “How’s your drink?”

“Tastes like victory… which apparently tastes like Grimmess beer.”

“I’ll remember that one.”

“If you don’t, I’ll remember for you next time.” The indignant sputtering from Qrow is audible even though the portal. “How’s your water?”

Raven looks at Tai, and mouths,  _ water? Seriously? _

“Technically, still a drink.”

Tai shrugs. Maybe Ironwood cut Qrow off or something.

“Watery? I don’t know, how the fuck am I supposed to describe water?”

With a wave of her hand, Raven closes the second portal. “That was  _ painful.” _

“I mean, it wasn’t… that…” Tai gives up his half-hearted protest. “Yeah, okay, if I thought he was bad in our academy days…”

“He wasn’t a good-for-nothing alcoholic traitor in our academy days. Just a good-for-nothing, idealistic fool.  _ That _ hasn’t changed.”

Tai lets out a long, slow breath. “He’s doing what he thinks is right,” he says finally. “What we all thought was right, at one point.”

“Difference is, we know better now. If that idiot still can’t see it’s a lost cause – and he proved as much when we fought at Haven – then there’s no hope for him. If I ever needed a brother, I’d go find myself a new one.”

“But Qrow’s the one you’ve got, and if you  _ ever _ want to fix things with your daughter, you’ll have to deal with him too. You don’t have to  _ like _ him, but tolerate him? Cooperate when you need to? Like I do. At least do the minimum, like congratulating him when he gets a new boyfriend, if that somehow happens.”

Raven snorts at the thought of it. She may not know much about the distinguished Clover Ebi besides his name and title, but she knows  _ exactly _ how hard it is to put up with Qrow for any length of time. If anything happens between them, it won’t last long. 

“If I ever see him again and they’re together, I’m sure I’ll find something to say,” she manages. No comment on whether it will be something good. But she’s getting tired of this line of conversation, even if it does let her trash-talk her traitorous brother a little. Raven stands, and without another word turns and leaves the room. 

* * *

Raven swishes a white blade back and forth in the yard. She mimes cutting down a few imagined enemies with a quick flurry of blows, and finishes off with a sharp vertical chop that releases a strong gust of wind as it passes. At the edge of the clearing, the trees ruffle their branches and drop a few leaves. 

“Looking good,” Tai calls to her from a safer position, and Zwei barks once from his heel. “New swords all work the way you expected?”

Raven sheathes the dust-infused blade and turns to face him. “Your friend does good work,” she says. “I admit, I had my doubts, but these should be sufficient for the next several years until I need repairs again.”

“I’ll let Andre know you’re satisfied. He said he liked making them, too. Not many people asking for dust blades these days.”

Raven only smirks, content in the knowledge of her weapon’s superiority. After a moment she draws a red blade and asks, “Want to spar?”

Tai winces. “Not sure I’m up to fighting the Spring Maiden.”

“No magic?”

“Alright, fine, but just a little. I’d rather not get beaten up  _ too _ badly.” Tai goes inside for a moment to fetch his weapon, then returns to get ready in the yard. 

He fits a pair of gauntlets over his hands, and with a shake each one extends three wicked claws almost a foot beyond his fingers. Short nozzles pop up on the back of each hand as well, ready to release a jet of flame from the tubes of red dust beneath. Tai pats at his belt briefly, but it along with all its smaller vials of assorted dust is still inside. No need for that in a simple sparring match anyway. 

Satisfied that he’s ready, Tai gets into a fighting stance and nods. But Raven only stands still, looking up at the sky. “Looks like it might rain,” she comments. “And I wouldn’t want my new swords to get all wet.”

Raven’s eyes flare with pink fire as she continues to glare upward. She jabs one finger toward the clouds, and they swirl away into nothingness as if afraid of her power. 

Tai can only stare, dumbfounded, into the newly sunny sky. “Can you do that the other way too? Where were you this past summer when I was watering the garden twice a day?”

“Oh, you know. Usual tribe business.” Raven leaves it at that. Honestly, Tai probably doesn’t want to know the details. 

Without further ado, she makes a quick sideways slash with her red blade, sending off a thin wave of flame that Tai drops to his knees to duck beneath. She immediately lowers her sword to guard against the coming charge, and sidesteps Tai’s claws to make a strike at his back as he passes. 

Tai whirls around, expecting just such a move, and catches Raven’s blade between two claws of his right hand. He engages the dust chamber within that gauntlet and sprays a short burst of fire toward Raven’s hand while her sword’s movement is constrained, and a slight flare of orange tells him at least part of the attack connected. 

“Good to see you’re not going soft,” Raven calls to him. She immediately launches a new attack, and the pair’s blades clash once again. 

“Are you kidding? I fight my students at Signal two or three at a time!” Tai grins and tries a high kick at Raven’s chest. “Got to say though, this is more of a challenge. Reminds me of sparring with Qrow.”

Immediately Raven’s expression darkens and her next attacks come in the form of targeted two-handed chops of her blade. Tai is forced to defend, and finally resorts to using the jets of flame from his gauntlets to regain some distance. 

“Qrow,” Raven practically spits. “I just saw his fighting not that long ago. He’s a fool for sticking with Ozpin. That fight can’t be won.”

Tai gives his left gauntlet a shake. The three long claws, mounted on a ring over the back of his hand, swing around to turn backward, shielding his forearm instead. The dust nozzle in the center stays fixed, still pointing forward to give him an offensive option even with this more cautious stance. 

“There’s no real love lost between me and Ozpin either,” Tai begins, only to be cut off as Raven’s sword clashes against his claws again. 

“But?” Raven challenges. 

“But if Salem truly is as we’ve been told – and you’ve met her agents, right?” Tai bats away another swing of the red blade with his shielded arm and goes for a forward stab. “Then isn’t it best to keep up the fight anyway, even if all we can do is slow her down?”

Raven rolls her eyes as she steps back, and swaps her red blade for a yellow one. “The  _ smart _ move is to just stay the fuck out of it all. Don’t play their game. As we’ve  _ both _ been doing these last eighteen years.”

She leaps forward again, and now her strikes impart a small shock with every hit against Tai’s metal claws. Gone are the playful flourishes at the end of her swings and the almost gliding motion of her footwork, replaced with a deadly precision of every attack toward wherever Tai’s guard is weakest. 

“Raven, please. You don’t have to  _ like _ him, either of them, but at least  _ understand _ them? Regardless of why you first went to Beacon or what you believe now, you did become a huntress. We all swore an oath to protect life. There are as many ways to go about it as there are huntsmen, and fighting that battle is Qrow’s.”

A forward stab of Raven’s blade slips between his claws and strikes hard against his aura. Tai goes down, flat on his back, and instantly Raven leaps forward with her sword poised to stab again. Tai rolls to the side, narrowly avoiding what probably would have been a coup de grace on a less trained opponent. 

“Qrow’s loyalty should have been to the tribe that raised us!” Raven yells, pivoting out of her downward stab to sling an arc of lightning horizontally off her blade. “Not to some immortal fuck who will sooner send a child off to die than tell one person the truth!” She follows up with a series of diagonal slashes that Tai can only block with both sets of claws turned back as bracers instead. 

“That’s enough!” Tai calls as he’s backed up against the side of the house. “I yield!”

Raven’s yellow blade halts just inches from his gut, but her furious expression does not fade even as she sheathes the sword again. “Enough?” She rolls her eyes. “I could list my idiot alcoholic brother’s failures for a month and I wouldn’t come close to  _ enough. _ For Oz, even longer. But at the top of both lists is that Qrow  _ had _ a purpose to his sorry life, and he  _ abandoned _ it to serve a man who doesn’t care about any of us!”

Tai collapses his claws back into the gauntlets and takes a look at his aura meter – not quite broken, but well into the red. “You’ve improved a  _ lot _ since we last fought. That wasn’t even close anymore.”

He steps out into the sun again and stretches. “Now. I don’t mean to disagree, and certainly not invalidate your feelings on the subject, but there is something else I think you should consider.”

Raven silently raises one eyebrow at him. 

“You feel that Qrow abandoned you. Or more accurately, abandoned the tribe.” It’s not a question. She’s made that much perfectly clear. “So Qrow has wronged you, I’m not disputing that. But now… the tribe is gone. There is no way to right that wrong, without a tribe for Qrow to come back to, and apologize to, and never abandon again.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel  _ better?” _

“No. But good or bad, it  _ is _ closure. Anger can be a powerful motivator, and you’ve carried yours for so long now… but it no longer has a purpose to serve. There is no possible goal for it to push you towards, now. So  _ that particular anger… _ you can let go of.”

Raven snorts. “Right…”

“You don’t have to forgive him,” Tai hurries to add. “That’s not the same thing. But for your own sake, you need to  _ accept _ that this is one thing you can’t fix. Direct your anger toward what’s possible – like getting Oz to care about people more, or if that seems too unlikely, how about just protecting your family like you did for the tribe?”

“You mean leaving you all alone for a couple days and coming back to find Cinder has murdered you?”

Tai hangs his head. “Raven, I’m serious. You’ve lost your purpose in life, and it wasn’t Qrow’s fault, and it wasn’t Ozpin’s fault. You’ve got a lot of anger with nowhere to go. But you were a leader and a protector for eighteen years. That’s what you’re good at! So if you wanted to take your anger at the world and apply it productively… you  _ do _ still have people to lead and protect.”

Raven sits down on the grass and rests her face in her hands, and Tai kneels next to her. “I’ve long since burned my bridges with everyone else,” Raven mumbles. “But… if  _ you _ were willing to take me back like this… I suppose, maybe, you might not be the only one…?”

“That’s the spirit!” Tai claps her on the back, and though she flinches at first she doesn’t move away. “I’m not saying it will be  _ easy, _ but… it will be  _ possible.” _


	6. No Longer Taied Down

It was going to be a peaceful night like any other. Tai had brushed his teeth, said good night to Raven – who’s been settling in rather comfortably in Yang’s room – and then headed off in the direction of his bed. 

But no sooner had he closed the door and pulled back the covers, than his rest was preemptively disturbed by a  _ scream _ of pure anguish. 

Tai bolts out of the room and down the hall, weapons in hand, and throws open the door to what even he has started thinking of lately as Raven’s bedroom. She’s there on her knees by the side of her bed, aura visible and shining the dark red that signifies Raven alone, and most inexplicably of all, she’s sobbing uncontrollably. 

Tai drops his claw blades in the doorway and rushes to her side. “Oh my gods, what happened? Raven, are you–” Well, she’s clearly not okay, but  _ why? _ “What’s going on?”

Raven turns weakly to look at him, and manages to choke out a single word. “Vernal…”

And then, aura still red… she hugs him. Tai returns the gesture, if a little awkwardly, and sits beside her. “Vernal?” he questions softly, with nothing further to even speculate about. 

Raven sobs a while longer, then snatches the box of tissues off a nearby table and blows her nose. “I can  _ feel _ when things happen,” she begins. “To my linked people. I feel their auras touching my own.” She breaks off as another wave of tears comes over her. “And that bitch just murdered Vernal!  _ Again!” _

Oh. Cinder. The woman whose semblance relies on murder, who makes unwilling thralls out of her victims as she carries them around to fight for her later. The one who had destroyed the Branwen tribe and left Raven more alone than ever before. 

“I always know,” Raven sighs. “It’s how I saved Yang that time. I  _ know _ when someone’s aura is hurt, when it breaks… when…”

Tai reaches over to put an arm around Raven again, and she gladly leans into him. “I’m sorry,” he murmurs. “I wish there was anything we could do, but… Just know I’m here for you.”

Raven wipes away her tears as her face suddenly turns to anger. “Did she take Cinder with her?” she demands of no one. “Is she dead too, is that what happened? Or do I have to go finish the job myself?”

She thrusts out a hand in front of her and her aura sparks, but no portal appears. She tries again, with the same result. “To Atlas, damn you!” she snarls at the air in front of her. “That’s where she went, isn’t it? Not following me, so she must have followed the Relic. Let me  _ see her!” _

But her semblance will not cooperate. Whether Cinder has just died and taken her entire retinue with her to the afterlife, or if it was only Vernal being used as a shield, Raven cannot tell. She can’t know if her quest for revenge has just been canceled or redoubled. 

Raven fumes in silence for a while, and pushes Tai away. Finally she shuffles out into the middle of the room and rests back, sitting on her legs. “I can  _ still feel _ the link,” she says through gritted teeth. “She’s killed Vernal, and it’s taken a little bit of me with her. And I will  _ not _ let her get  _ away _ with this.”

“Raven… what are you doing?” Tai looks on, confused and more than a little suspicious, as Raven raises both hands in front of her. 

“I have to at least try,” she says. It’s not an answer, but she doesn’t seem too inclined to actually give one no matter what Tai says. 

Raven’s aura flares up again and she stares intently at the space between her hands, focusing. The coating of red over her skin brightens, far more intense than Tai had seen it in their sparring session the other day, and then a wisp of the same deep red sparks into existence between her fingers. 

A portal, or the beginnings of one. No more than a centimeter across, but wreathed in the same burgundy clouds as any. Raven takes a deep breath and strains to push it wider. 

“Is that… meant to go to Vernal?” That shouldn’t be possible anymore. Right?

“I’ll tear open a portal to the afterlife before I let  _ Cinder _ have her way!” Raven only intensifies her efforts. 

The tiny portal sparks and Raven flinches, but keeps her focus. Even through the appearance of a jagged four-inch arc of purest white hanging in the air, and then another shooting off from the portal in another direction, she maintains her intent stare. 

Tai picks up Raven’s scroll off the bedside table and looks at the aura meter. It should have been full just minutes ago, but now it reads barely seventy percent. And that number is falling by the second as Raven channels every ounce of strength she has into this doomed attempt to pierce the one barrier that cannot be opened. 

Tai tentatively reaches out his little finger toward one of the strange cracks in the air. It’s not lightning, it doesn’t hurt to touch, it doesn’t feel like anything at all. More importantly, his finger remains intact. It’s as if reality itself is simply absent in the vicinity of this portal. 

Raven’s aura has dropped to fifty percent by the time Tai looks at the scroll again, but the reddish cloud has grown to a few inches across. Whatever it is she’s doing, the sheer determination behind it seems to be having an effect. 

“Vernal!” she calls. “Vernal, can you hear me?”

There’s no response. 

Raven wills the portal wider, burning through aura strength even faster now. “Vernal, if you’re there,  _ take my hand!” _

And she thrusts a hand through the red clouds into whatever lies beyond. Another crack shoots off of the portal’s edge and she twists her arm out of the way, but keeps her contact with the other side. 

And just as Tai is starting to worry about her aura running out and collapsing this gate to who knows where with Raven’s hand still on the other side, something actually happens. A pale blue light shines out, at first so faint he has to strain to see, but brighter with every passing moment. 

And then the blue spreads onto Raven’s wrist. And up her arm. And just as it covers her body completely, red flickers through the other glow and Raven snatches her hand out of the portal. Her aura shatters under the strain of pushing her semblance so hard, and as light of both colors fades out from around her, she slumps over on her side with eyes closed. 

“Uh, Raven?” Tai starts to move closer, but stops short of the brilliant white shards of nothingness that still hang in the air. He watches in silence as the color, the very  _ existence _ of the room around them slowly fades in from the edges and fills the gaps, and only then does Tai approach to gently rest a hand on Raven’s shoulder. “Are… you okay? I’m not really sure what you just did there, but… it was pretty impressive, I’ll give you that?”

Raven stirs, and slowly blinks open her eyes. “What the… where…” Pale blue aura flickers briefly, and her eyes finally find Tai’s face and focus. “Who are you?”

* * *

Flying in a straight line from Atlas to Vacuo would be a much shorter route than the one actually being taken. However, there  _ is _ a very good reason that the usual route between Atlas and Vacuo hugs the coast of Sanus instead, and that reason is what Yang’s currently looking at out the window.

“Perditus,” Jaune says behind her. Unless that’s Pyrrha?  _ Man _ is that weird to think about. Weird, but really cool. Whoever it is comes up to stand next to Yang. “That’s where Salem is, isn’t it?” 

Must be Jaune, then. Pyrrha’s been there. 

“I never really thought about it,” Yang admits. “Well, I mean, right  _ now _ she’s in Atlas—”

“Right. I mean that’s where she operates out of. It would have to be, and it  _ would _ make sense, for the same reasons that we’re not flying over it.”

“Not sure even Clover could get over that place in one piece. Qrow’s uneasy  _ enough _ about Grimm already, we don’t need to tempt fate any  _ more.” _

“Yang? Jaune?” Ruby has, apparently, extricated herself from the team’s cuddle pile to join them. “I feel  _ really _ dumb for having to ask this, but uh… why aren’t we flying over Perditus, exactly?”

“Grimm,” Yang says simply.

“Grimm,” Jaune agrees, and then his eyes flash and it’s Pyrrha standing there in his place. “You skipped… two years of junior academy, right?”

“Yeah!” Ruby pumps a fist in the air.

“I’m guessing Signal focused on combat more for the beginning years and then got into other, equally important but  _ non- _ combat related things once that was down. Like geography.”

“Yeah… it seemed like such a good idea at the time!”

“I suddenly understand why it took you  _ months _ to walk across Anima,” Yang mutters.

_ “Hey! _ I only lost the map  _ once.” _

“Out of…” Pyrrha looks slightly to the left. “Three times total, apparently. Ren is the only one blameless here.”

Yang laughs. “Somehow, that does not surprise me. At all. But yeah, Perditus… the only reason we’ve got it remotely surveyed is because of some explorer, or treasure hunter, probably not doing entirely legal things… a  _ long _ time ago named Krialha. That’s assuming, of course, she actually existed and wasn’t a bunch of different people being credited to the same name. Even she only got the coastline and some of the major features. Who knows what the rest of the interior’s like?”

“Salem,” Pyrrha points out. “If she doesn’t… how do you live that long and  _ not _ know what the area you live in looks like?”

“Maybe she spends a lot of time inside?” Ruby tries. “She  _ did _ say she worked from home.”

“Makes sense. Her castle’s all the way west, on the head, and there’s a lot more continent out there.” Pyrrha looks out the window for a moment. “This part we’re going past now, the southern tip, I passed over it once with Cinder on her way out of Vale. It didn’t  _ look _ Grimm-infested, just like pristine wilderness without any humans.”

“And she makes sure it stays without any people there.”

Pyrrha nods. “There’s so many ancient Grimm all over the place, nobody can get near Salem’s home unless they’re one of her favored.” She suddenly looks very much like she wants to ask about a particular magical jellyfish in Ruby’s luggage. She does not, however, because Ozbot chooses that moment to return from the cockpit.

“Short version,” Pyrrha says instead, “is that people disappear when they try to go into Perditus. Same goes for flying over it. There’s a reason no settlement there has lasted. Honestly, it’s a little surprising we know as much as we do.”

“Festive,” Ruby says. “So we’ve got about… how long left until we get to Vacuo?”

“A  _ while,” _ Yang says. “Go back to sleep. I’ll wake you up when we’re getting close, if you don’t wake up on your own first.”

* * *

“So, Vernal... That  _ is _ you in front right now, correct?”

The woman in question stares back at Tai across the kitchen table, and nods. “Yeah, it’s me.”

“Just when I was starting to get used to there being two of you in that body, now there’s three.” Tai looks out the window over her shoulder for a moment. “You know, I’m still a little unclear on what exactly Raven  _ did _ that night...”

Light flashes from Vernal’s eyes, and suddenly the body sits back a little more relaxed. “Same thing I always do,” Raven says. “I made a portal to someone I care about, and she came through.” 

She shrugs as if that’s all there is to it, and takes a bite of her breakfast. “And you can still consider us two. Aureolin and I may be  _ capable _ of separating briefly, but we’re far closer to one these days than two.”

“And that’s... going to happen with Vernal too, eventually? Like Oz?”

“It could,” Raven admits, “but I’d hardly call it inevitable. The two of me coexisted for  _ years _ beyond what Oz gets. There’s an aspect of choice to it.”

“And, so…” Tai screws up his face in thought. “Where  _ is _ Aureolin now? I’ve seen the way Vernal switches in and out, but it’s never looked like that with her.”

“You’re talking to her now. I am Aureolin. I could have just as easily said ‘Raven and I can separate briefly’, it’s just that, back then, we decided we’d go by the name Raven rather than finding a new one.” The new Raven shrugs. “Both our histories are  _ mine, _ I was just in two places at once for a while and now I’m not.”

Tai sets his fork down and leans back in his seat. “I… guess I just don’t get it, how someone could do that? To not only leave your own body behind to live in someone else’s, but then give up your own  _ name _ as well? Just seems like she – you – were running away, almost. Was being Aureolin really so bad?”

“Yes,” she says simply. “It was. From the moment I  _ got _ my power, there was a target on my back. Two targets. Oz probably never told you this, but… he wasn’t the first to find me.”

“Uh, no. That was what, ten or eleven years ago? The girls were in middle school and I wanted nothing to do with Oz. I wanted them to have a quiet life, so my only news came through Qrow.”

Raven’s eyes narrow slightly at this, but there’s no tinge of hostility in her words as she continues. “One of Salem’s agents found me first, barely a week after I’d gained my powers. I was taken to see her. She told me what I was and what was expected of me. I found it all a bit much.”

Tai snorts. “I bet.”

“Then, before I could even settle into my new life, whatever it was, I got fucking  _ kidnapped. _ And then interrogated. Thanks a lot, Oz, way to make me feel welcome on the side of light.”

“Gods…” Tai shakes his head, and motions for her to keep going even as he returns part of his attention to his breakfast. 

“Yeah. So. Didn’t much care for magic then, didn’t really see the point in any of that,  _ really _ didn’t much like Oz and his ‘training’ that was barely more than an excuse to spy on me… So I ran away. Found Raven. Started a new life I actually had a  _ choice _ in.”

“I can see why you two got along,” Tai says. “Raven ran away from Oz too, years earlier.”

Raven looks offended at the suggestion. “Excuse you, I didn’t  _ run away, _ I  _ left.” _

“Suddenly. Without Ozpin’s knowledge. In the night, if I recall. How is that not running away?”

“It’s… I…” Raven sighs and rolls her eyes. “Fine, maybe I did. I was just so  _ sick _ of… well, of  _ him!” _ She throws up her hands in disgust. “Always so self-righteous, so quick to blame everyone but himself, so  _ vindictive _ beneath that  _ infuriating _ mask of calm and patience! He’s in it for the long game, and none of us matter in the end. Not a bit! We’re all just pawns in  _ his _ game, and–” Raven stops suddenly. “Why are you nodding along with all this?”

“Because I completely agree.” Tai relishes the look of bewilderment on Raven’s face. “Look… after you left us with a newborn Yang and I decided to retire from his service to raise her… Oz tried to stop me. For  _ two years _ he tried to manipulate me, and he really pulled out all the stops. Saying how he’d already lost one of his best agents–” Tai extends a hand across the table. “And if he lost two at once, that would be all the foothold Salem needed to sweep across Remnant and… well, he never did say just what she’d  _ do _ if she won. Do you know what finally got him to stop?”

Raven waits silently for him to answer his own question. 

“Ruby. That’s why he let me leave. To raise Ruby. Me having a young daughter wasn’t enough, but a daughter with silver eyes… That was important to him.” Tai shakes his head solemnly. “I tried to push both of them to attend Haven, or even Shade… but no. Now they’re wrapped up in the same quagmire we were.”

Raven opens her mouth to speak again, but freezes. Pale blue light flashes from her eyes, and then it’s that body’s newest resident looking out. “I never met the guy at Beacon,” Vernal says, “but I saw him in the battle at Haven. In that kid’s head. I overheard what one of Salem’s people said to him. That Oz had killed his sister, that he  _ knew _ this man wanted his head for it, and he hadn’t told his own body-mate about any of it.”

Vernal scoffs. “I never thought  _ I’d _ be sharing a body with anyone, but even I knew that wasn’t the way to go about it. If you can’t trust each other and cooperate, you’re doomed – and believe me, that’s what killed Cinder in the end.”

“Yeah. You doing okay in there?”

“Hey. I’ve died more times than anyone else except that Oz fucker, and I’m still here. I’m doing great.” Vernal grins, but it doesn’t last long. “Raven and I have some things to talk about, but we  _ are _ talking. And it sure beats being in Cinder’s head.”

She pauses a moment to consider her next words carefully. “You know, Raven never talked much about her old team, and what she did say was rarely good… but you’re all right. I don’t know how you do it, but if you’ve gotten  _ Raven _ comfortable enough to talk like this…”

“Hey, I’m no therapist,” Tai says. “I’m just a dad. Though I guess there is some overlap in the skills. I don’t suppose there’s anything  _ you’d _ like to talk about?”

Vernal stares at him for a moment, then bursts out laughing. “You know what? Fine. What do you think of the fact the Atlesian military wanted to arrest me for visiting my own grandmother? They ran me out of the kingdom, and I didn’t see her again until just the other day, when Cinder showed up to kill her and she had no idea I was even there.”

“Wow. Uh… do you need a hug?”

“Good luck hugging a body with Raven Branwen in it.” Vernal winks, and in a flash of orange she’s gone. 

“Hello again,” Raven says. “Haven’t done this switching in and out dance in a while. Can’t say I really missed it. But, if it brings Vernal back to me…”

“Then that’s what matters,” Tai finishes for her. “You’ll sort things out, and I’m with you no matter what you decide. What’s important, for however many you end up being, is…” He pauses for dramatic effect. “No more running away.”

He stands to take both their empty plates to the sink. “Nobody here much cares for Oz. Your tribe may be gone but the one responsible is dead now too, and Vernal is not. Yang and Ruby are already involved in everything I wanted them kept out of. So… for good or ill, nothing about the past has a hold over any of us anymore. We have nothing to run from now.”

“Only a future to run towards,” Raven echoes. “Whatever that is. I… was not very kind to Yang the last time we met. But even if she’s siding with Qrow and Oz… I’d like to have a good relationship with  _ her, _ at least.”


	7. Late Summer's Warmth

“On your right!” Tai points as he calls out, not that Raven is looking at him. 

Raven pivots away from the dissolving remains of a beowolf and slices cleanly through the two more approaching her side. Across the yard, Tai punches one in the gut with his long metal claws, then runs back to put less distance between him and Raven. 

The Grimm keep coming. A full pack of them, weak but numerous, clearly just recently spawned from whatever dark caves lie unexplored in the central forest of Patch. Drawn by their fledgling senses not to any great fear or suffering, but just to the mere presence of humanity and the turbulent emotions within. 

Three more bound out of the woods to Tai’s left and he sprays a jet of fire from the nozzle on the back of his hand. The leading beowolf falls immediately and the others slow. Tai closes the distance and stabs into one, and the other falls to a wave of lightning thrown off by Raven’s blade. 

“I think I see the alpha,” Raven calls. 

Tai glances where she indicates, but sees nothing but more dark shapes between the trees. He breaks off to take care of another pair a short ways away, glancing back once to see Raven backing away from the treeline with a noticeably larger beowolf following. 

She can handle it. It’s only a beowolf, after all, no matter how big. Tai focuses on the part of the pack surrounding him – fewer than there were a moment ago, but still a lot more Grimm than he’d prefer in his backyard. A few punches, and few slices, and already they’re thinning out. 

Raven, on the other hand, is getting swarmed worse with all the stragglers hanging behind their alpha. She’s already swapped out her lightning-infused blade for one with wind dust, so that every strike sends the target’s neighbors stumbling back, but it’s not enough. 

“Phoenix!” Raven yells out the name of their old team attack from Beacon days. She thrusts out her non-sword hand toward the alpha and conjures a portal, already turning away from it to launch a sweeping attack toward the crowd of lesser Grimm behind. 

Tai gets a glimpse of red to his left and turns on his heel, but makes no move to enter the portal beside him. Instead, he merely brings up his semblance with a thought, gulps in a deep lungful of air, and exhales a cone of flame through the crimson mist. 

His Academy friends didn’t nickname him “Dragon” for nothing. It’s a mantle he’s proud of, and even more proud to see Yang carrying on after him. 

In seconds, there is only smoke and drifting ash where the beowolf alpha once stood. Without its threat forcing a more cautious approach, Raven finishes off the group surrounding her easily, and no more Grimm show themselves in the clearing. 

“Thanks,” Raven says. “Wasn’t quite sure you’d remember.”

“I’m more surprised that  _ you _ still thought of it,” Tai counters. “You could have just used magic to take them all out.”

“True.” Raven pauses and glances at empty air. “Vernal is complaining that she doesn’t have her weapons anymore. As far as I know, they’re still with her body… in the vault beneath Haven Academy. Probably easier to have Andre recreate them than go back for the originals.”

Tai leads Raven over to sit on the front steps. “Probably,” he agrees. “If you draw up a schematic, we can head by his place tomorrow.” 

Raven stares out across the yard for a while: the rows of sunflowers by the house, the grassy clearing, the patch of dirt where many sparring bouts had taken place over the years. She glances back toward Tai, hesitates, looks away again. 

And then back. “Don’t… take this the wrong way, but…” Raven hesitates again. “There’s something I’ve been curious about, the whole time I’ve been here. I’ve kind of avoided asking so far, because you always seemed uncomfortable when the subject came up.”

Tai raises one eyebrow. “Go ahead. Whatever you’re thinking, it can’t be that bad.” He thinks for a moment, then adds, “We’re all mature adults here.”

“Did… did you and Summer break up?”

Clearly that’s not at all what Tai was expecting her to ask, judging from the look of paralyzed shock on his face. Raven tries to clarify, but nothing seems to make him any less appalled. 

“I haven’t seen her this whole time, and it’s been months. I mean, she’s taken some long missions before, but not  _ this _ long. You don’t talk about her much either, and, well… it’s the only explanation I can think of.”

“You… don’t know? All this time, and you  _ never knew?” _

“Know what?” Raven throws up her hands. “That’s just what I’m asking you!”

Tai rests his face in his hands, and Raven can hardly hear his dejected voice. “Summer… is dead.  _ Years _ ago, now. I’ve raised the girls alone since they were little.”

And now it’s Raven’s turn to be absolutely bewildered by a few short sentences. “What? No, that can’t be right.”

“Raven… she’s gone.”

“She most certainly is not! I would  _ know _ if she were dead. I’d have felt it.” A thought occurs to her and she touches Tai’s shoulder to make him look up. “Besides, you’ve seen Vernal. Do you  _ honestly _ think that if Summer had died, that she wouldn’t be here with me right now?”

Both stare into each other’s baffled expressions for a moment. 

“Are you seriously telling me,” Raven says, “that Summer just  _ vanished _ years ago and hasn’t been back here since? Damn. What did you  _ do?” _

“I… we… We weren’t on bad terms! Not at all! And she would never have left her daughters. Oz gave her a mission, and she never made it back! Are you really saying… Summer…  _ our wife… _ is  _ alive?!” _

“Uh. Yeah? That’s what I’ve been telling you this whole time.”

“But…” Tai rests his head in his hands again. “Why? She loved Ruby, and Yang, and… and both of us, even if you weren’t there anymore. If she’s alive, then where is she? Why would she…” He trails off, and pulls his arms tight around himself as he hangs his head. 

“Want to find out? I can take you to her right this second. Summer is…” Raven stands and turns in a slow circle at the foot of the steps. “That way,” she declares, pointing to one side and down into the earth. “West of here, and a good ways around the world. I’m guessing Vacuo. Just one more thing to check first…”

Raven kneels down and conjures a small portal in front of her. Zwei comes trotting through, and Raven picks him up to sit with the dog on her lap next to Tai. “Good, that works. We’ll be able to get back here again.”

Tai is still stunned, but he manages a few words. “Yeah. Okay. I… I still don’t know how I can possibly believe you, but… Let’s all take care of a few things here first, and then we can go.”

* * *

“Do we  _ have _ to wear  _ white?” _ The firefly faunus audibly pouts. “I mean, come  _ on. _ I know that’s your thing, and kind of our whole team’s thing, but I have appearances to keep up. And do you have  _ any idea _ how hard white is to clean?”

“I promise you, the thought has crossed my mind.” One of the two people here  _ without _ an obvious faunus trait smiles, bemused. “I’m kind of surprised you’re complaining more than—”

“Oh, I can complain alright,” says the probably-human woman in dark sunglasses, and equally dark clothes. “I would rather be wearing nearly anything but this.”

“Anything in black,” cuts in the girl with zebra stripes running up and down her arms.

“You know me too well.”

“The sooner we get them on and get there, the sooner you will all be able to take them off again.” The woman already wearing her own white cloak now pulls her hood up. 

The zebra faunus follows suit. “I don’t mind, really.”

“Of course  _ you _ don’t. You wear that thing more often than  _ she _ does.” But the firefly faunus does pull on her own hooded cloak. “Oh, hey, more reasons why this is a bad idea. This thing doesn’t even  _ fit _ me.”

“Not with those wings of yours. Is that why you never seem to wear much at all?”

The firefly faunus shrugs. “Only  _ one _ of the reasons. Two, it’s hot. Three,  _ I’m _ hot. And four, how am I supposed to use my semblance when I’m all covered up like this?”

“It’s a  _ cloak.” _ The zebra faunus shows off her own. “You can stick an arm out.”

“And hopefully,” the first human says, “we won’t need anyone’s semblances today. But if we do…”

“Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.” Sunglasses adjusted to properly conceal her eyes, the woman in all black underneath her own cloak fixes the outer layer as well. “I’ll send out the message, then, and our silver friend will be on standby. Meet you there.”

* * *

It’s a strange thing, packing for a journey when you don’t quite know where you’re going, and don’t even fully believe you’ll be traveling anywhere at all. But if there’s any chance that Raven is right… any chance at all that their teammate, their leader, their mutual  _ wife _ could still be alive somewhere… then Tai will have to take that opportunity to see her again. 

Any chance, no matter how slight. 

“Thanks again for doing this on such short notice,” he tells Barty and Peter, and hands Zwei over to his friends’ care. “I… don’t actually know how long we’ll be gone.”

“Well, we’re happy to help,” Barty says, taking the dog from his arms. “Especially with a job like this one. Who would say no?”

“Of course. I trust you two to keep him safe, for however long this trip takes.”

“I think he might be the one keeping us safe,” Peter chortles. “With his talent, saving Vale during the Breach… What are two mere huntsmen next to this ferocious beast?”

“Where  _ are _ you two going?” Barty asks. He indicates the single large suitcase sitting in one corner, weapons laying atop it. “I don’t mean to pry, but… you haven’t actually said.”

“Vacuo, probably,” Raven supplies before Tai can respond. “Which is a lot closer than where he  _ thought _ he’d have to go for this.”

“I still don’t understand, why Vacuo, why anywhere…” Tai shakes his head. “I’m sorry. I’d rather not say too much, in case it’s  _ not _ true. But Raven believes…” He sighs deeply. “She thinks there’s something there, and I’ll follow her to check it out.”

“I’ll be back in a week, with or without him,” Raven says. “Got another order to pick up from the weaponsmith. Anyway…” She picks up her case of long blades and buckles the attached belt around her waist. “Ready to go?”

Tai grabs his own weapon and takes the shared suitcase with his other hand. “Ready as I’ll ever be.” 

“Whatever your mission, good luck,” Barty wishes them both. “We’ll take care of Zwei as long as it takes.”

Raven gives him a nod, then steps out into the middle of the room, facing a wide empty space. She glances back at Tai one more time, but he gives no objection. So, with a flick of her fingers, she calls up a portal to the last of her list of endpoints. 

Tai only stares at it, dumbfounded. If the portal actually opened, without the immense strain of when she wrenched open a gateway to Vernal, then that means… it must be true? The corners of his eyes tingle with oncoming tears and he hurriedly looks away from his guests. 

Raven steps through without another backward glance, but Tai hesitates. His breath catches in his throat and he pauses to steel himself for  _ whatever _ might lie beyond those swirling red clouds. 

“It… really opened,” Tai mutters to himself. He looks to Barty and Peter. “And that means…” The faint sound of voices can be heard from the other side, muffled by distance and the not-quite-silent swirling of the scarlet clouds themselves. 

“If you’d rather not talk about it, that’s okay,” Barty begins, “but can you at least say if that’s a good thing or a bad thing?”

“It’s a… I don’t think I even know, anymore. It’s all I ever wanted for  _ years _ and yet, if it’s true, then…” He shakes his head helplessly and lets go of the suitcase for a moment to pat Zwei’s head. “You be a good dog, now. I’ll be back before you know it.”

Peter claps Tai on the back. “Whatever’s on the other side of that portal, I’m sure it will turn out okay. Nothing keeps Taiyang down for long. Now go. And good luck to you.”

“Good luck,” Barty echoes. 

Finally, with a nod of resolve to himself, Tai braces himself for as much shock as he can, and steps forward into the mist. 

Zwei barks, once, and wiggles like he wants to escape Barty’s arms. But he’s held tight, kept behind on Patch as the last of his family departs for an unknown destination with no promise of a quick return. Just like Ruby. Just like Yang. 

He barks again, forlorn, and licks Barty’s hand. 

And the swirl of red collapses in on itself, and the portal closes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We'll be seeing these two again before too long. 
> 
> Next up in the series is A Tale of Two Queens, the next mainline fic following RWBY and friends as they leave Atlas for Vacuo. To those of you not already following along there as we publish side by side, you'll be meeting that group in the white cloaks and finding out just what mission it was they were all headed out to. And then... _and then..._


End file.
